Rescue over New Caprica
by vliegenvanger
Summary: If two Battlestars can survive the attacks on the Colonies, might there be the possibility that more Battlestars survived? AU from Exodus Parts one and two onwards. rated T for now, it might change to M for possible later Chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**CIC**

**Battlestar Pegasus**

**4 months after the Cylon Occupation of New Caprica**

"Sir, Galactica has just jumped away." An officer said as Commander Lee Adama entered the CIC with his wife Lieutenant Dualla, the XO of Pegasus right behind him.

"Set the clock for twelve hours, if the Galactica hasn't showed up at the rendezvous point they aren't going to show up." Lee Adama said. He looked up at the clock above the ops table which started a count down from 12 hours. He looked over to his XO –and Wife- who stood on the opposite side of the ops table and received a sympathetic smile.

It was a suicide mission and both Adama's knew it. The Galactica couldn't handle two baseships on her own, that was a fact.

Lee made up his mind. "XO, Prepare for combat. Launch all vipers and tell them to report to the ships that have viper recovery capabilities. Launch all Raptors except those who are needed for an evacuation of the ship. Offload all supplies to the transports and only take munitions worth twelve hours of combat. All personnel that are not required for operations of this ship are to disembark; we'll only take whom we need. We have four hours before Galactica commences its attack, get moving."

Dualla, already understanding what Lee was doing walked over to him. When she reached him they held each other's hands and just looked at each other before Dualla picked up the phone to relay the orders.

* * *

**Four hours later**

The com systems aboard the Pegasus crackled to life as the last raptor left the hanger bay of the mighty battlestar. _"Pegasus, this is Lieutenant Hoshi aboard raptor two-zero-niner, we have left the hanger bay and are now on our way to the freighter Prometheus to set up temporary command of the fleet."_

"I sure hope so Lieutenant Hoshi, but know that if neither of the two battlestars returns in eight hours you will have to leave the system and guide the fleet towards Earth." Lee Adama replied.

"_Roger that, Pegasus. Gods speed Pegasus, see you in eight hours." _Hoshi replied before the transmission was cut.

Twenty out of ninety vipers were out flying a very intense CAP as the Pegasus moved away from the fleet to make the jump to New Caprica to aid its sister, the Battlestar Galactica. As soon as the Pegasus was clear of the fleet it spooled up its FTL drives and jumped away to an unknown fate.

Lieutenant Hoshi, now the military leader of the fleet took his seat at the ECO station while the raptor continued on its way to the Freighter Prometheus. With him were several deckhands of the Pegasus.

"Sir we're one minute away from our final approach." The pilot said.

A console beeped and Hoshi typed in several commands into the raptor's DRADIS system. What appeared on his screen shocked him. "FRAK! We've got a capital ship right on top of us, it's probably a baseship, tell the fleet to prepare to jump!"

"On it sir." The pilot started to inform the fleet to make an emergency jump to the emergency jump coordinates. He was cut short by Hoshi.

"Hold the jump but keep the drives spooled up, I'm reading Colonial IFF!"

"Are you sure, have you verified it?" the pilot asked.

"Yes, it's a match. It's the Battlestar Prometheus, Valkyrie class stealth Battlestar." Hoshi said. "Sending hostile challenge. To the ship claiming to be the Battlestar Prometheus, this is raptor two-zero-niner, send hostile challenge to confirm your ID."

"_This is the Battlestar Prometheus, sending you our recognition codes now, what battlestar do you belong to?"_

"We are part of a security force left behind by the Battlestars Pegasus and Galactica." Hoshi said.

The pilot was now also in communication with the CAP whom had all turned to intercept the new bogey who was launching fighters as well. "Sir, our vipers confirm it's a Valkyrie class Battlestar, they aren't close enough to make identification but it looks good."

"Tell the bulk of the Vipers to disengage and send two to make a personal verification of the identity. Tell the fleet to disengage their jump drives." Hoshi ordered.

"Battlestar Prometheus, I would like to come aboard to further verify your Identification and discus a very important and pressing matter." Hoshi said.

"_Very well raptor two-zero-niner, we'll have an escort waiting for you."_

"The Vipers report a positive Identification on the Battlestar Prometheus. You want me to take us there?"

"Yes, do so immediately, patch in to the Prometheus' Air Traffic Controller to receive landing instructions." Hoshi confirmed.

* * *

Ten minutes later two viper mark sevens escorted raptor two-seven-niner into the port hanger bay of the Battlestar Prometheus. The raptor landed on the indicated lift and was lowered into the bowels of the ship's hanger bay. Before Hoshi opened the hatch he straightened out his uniform, he was just in his regular work uniform, nothing fancy. He opened a hatch and was greeted by several marine assault rifles trained on him behind that he saw several senior officers and a lot of deck hands in rows. He made sure not to make any threatening moves and kept his hands visible at all times as he stepped out of the raptor onto the ground. When the rest of the occupants of the raptor followed the marines lowered their rifles.

Hoshi stepped up to the woman who wore Commander Emblems. "I am Lieutenant Hoshi, Permission to come aboard Commander?" Hoshi said as he gave a sharp salute. The red headed woman returned the salute and offered her hand. She seemed to be in her late thirties but still looked gorgeous. Her red hair was in a tail.

"Permission granted. Welcome aboard the Battlestar Prometheus, Lieutenant Hoshi. You said you had something important to discus?" As Hoshi nodded the commander continued. "Follow me." she walked out followed by her XO and then Hoshi and the rest of the raptor's occupants and then a horde of marines. Several minutes later they entered a ward room that was normally used for large briefings and discussions.

"Please sit down, I am Commander Sharon Woods, May I ask, how did you survive the Cylon Attack?"

"I would love to answer that question as well as ask you the exact same thing but right now there is something much more pressing to discuss." Hoshi said nervously.

"And what would that be Lieutenant?" Woods asked.

"The Pegasus and Galactica are currently attempting to rescue the inhabitants of a new colony called New Caprica; they are up against a force of 2 to perhaps 8 baseships. Both Battlestars are damaged and only have a small crew. I would ask you to aid them in any way possible. The Cylons do not know about a third battlestar and it will make them wonder if their might be more." Hoshi said.

"There are more." Woods said plainly. She waited a few seconds for the shoe to drop for Hoshi before she continued. "The Prometheus is part of Battlestar Group 2, including the Zeus, Valiant, Hephaestus, Triton and the Prometheus. My XO will send for a raptor to tell the rest to jump here for your rescue party."

To say that Hoshi was stunned was an understatement. Less than an hour ago he had thought that he would never see a battlestar again and now he found out there were five more nearby. The Zeus was one of the most powerful battlestar known. A sister to the Atlantia and the only other in the Atlantia Class Battlestars constructed. The Valiant and Hephaestus were both Mercury Class Battlestars just like the Pegasus and the Triton was a one of its kind battlestar that differed quite a bit from the regular battlestar design. How they all had escaped the carnage of the holocaust was a total mystery to him but he was glad they did. Battlestar group 2 was somewhat of a mystery to him, the Pegasus had never encountered any ship from its group for the last two years and the Pegasus toured quite a bit of the colonies and saw a nearly all battlestars. Before the fall rumor had it that they were on a secret mission of kinds but no one knew more than that.

"Even if we could only get one of those Battlestars in orbit of New Caprica between now..." Hoshi checked his watch. "… And fifteen minutes it would make a real difference to the outcome of the battle." Hoshi said.

"I sure hope so, let's go to the CIC, I'm sure that Admiral Peterson will want to talk to you before he jumps the group to this planet." Woods suggested.

"Yes sir." Hoshi said nervously. Hoshi was never good in dealing with higher ups except for those he was used to like Admiral Cain, Colonel's Fisk, Garner, Belzen and Commander Adama as well. They stood up and walked towards the CIC which was only a few minutes away.

"It's Ma'am or Commander, Lieutenant." Woods said as she smiled.

"Yes sir… eh I mean Ma'am, sorry Ma'am" Hoshi replied.

"It's quite alright; one of the few things military protocols doesn't give you a clear guideline to these days." Woods replied.

* * *

A few minutes later they reached the CIC. What surprised Hoshi was the absence of damage to the ship, even Pegasus showed signs of combat damage after over a year of no combat. The CIC was as small as could be expected for a small and heavily automated battlestar. The marines at the doors saluted the commander and checked ID's for posterity's sake. When they entered the CIC the DRADIS screen started beeping and a whole load of new signals appeared, so much that it was difficult to make out the different signals from the small DRADIS screen.

"75 new contacts confirmed; they're all here commander." The DRADIS officer reported.

"How big is that fleet of yours?" Hoshi asked, forgetting protocol for a moment. "Ma'am."

"5 Battlestars, 7 Hades class support stars, 2 fleet tenders, 2 military Tylium refineries, 6 military tankers, 1 small craft production ship, 2 military grade botanical cruisers, 18 military freighters and one hospital ship. Furthermore we have 32 civilian vessels, all different shapes and sizes." Woods surmised. If a ship was military grade it meant that it was equipped with a strong hull that could at least hold back a nuke and usually had some weaponry. When not in fleet service they were used to carry supplies through areas where pirates roamed.

"Commander, I have Admiral Peterson on a video feed."

"Put it up on the main." Woods said.

The main screen activated and the head of Rear Admiral Mark Peterson appeared in the background the CIC of the Zeus was buzzing with activity. The graying admiral looked excited.

"Sharon, have you found a fight for us?" he asked immediately.

"Yes sir, the Pegasus and Galactica are currently attempting to free civilians from a planet under Cylon control. According to Lieutenant Hoshi, one of Pegasus' crewmembers who was left behind to guard their civilian fleet, they are likely up against superior numbers and firepower. Lieutenant Hoshi has requested our help as soon as possible."

"Very well, I'll have the battlestars prepare for combat, the rest stays here to help out where needed and to make further contact with these civilians. As soon as we have the coordinates we will jump." Peterson said.

"Sir, I can help you with those coordinates, sir." Hoshi jumped in.

Peterson merely smiled as he said "That's great son, coordinate with Commander Woods." And the transmission was cut.

* * *

**CIC**

**Galactica**

**New Caprica**

**A few minutes earlier**

"_Galactica, get your jump drives up and running and get the hell out of here, we'll take this from you."_ Lee Adama's voice thundered through the com system. Merely seconds ago the Pegasus had jumped in and heavily damaged one basestar.

"Damn you Lee." Admiral Adama said to no one in particular. He whispered "Thank you Lee."

"Alright, recall the vipers and get us out of here. Get that FTL working now!" Adama added.

"Sir, I don't think she has any birds in the air, she's completely defenseless." Agathon commented, referring to the Pegasus.

"Lee left all his birds to safeguard the civilian fleet; he knows this is a one way trip." Adama replied.

"Fifty percent of the fleet has jumped away; it'll take another twelve minutes to get the rest away." An ensign reported.

Adama looked back up to the DRADIS console hanging above the ops table. It showed two green capital class ship signals, one for the Pegasus and the other for the Galactica. Right now the Galactica was moving away from the rest while one other baseship did the same in the opposite direction. The Pegasus was completely surrounded by three red icons and dozens of squadrons of raiders.

"FTL is operational again; it'll take two minutes for the rest of the Vipers to get back aboard." Agathon reported.

"Prepare to jump the ship." Adama said. Suddenly the DRADIS console beeped.

"Reading FIVE new contacts! Bearing 294 CARIM 195 CBDR 28000!" The DRADIS officer yelled out.

"Get Lee on the horn." Adama ordered. The comm. Officer opened the channel and pushed it through. "Lee, get your ass out of there, there is nothing more you can…"

"Sir we're getting Colonial IFF! Holy Frack! They are shooting at the baseships!" Agathon yelled.

The five battlestars had formed up in a v like formation immediately after the jump and charged head first towards the three baseships besieging the Pegasus. The Prometheus moved off after the fourth damaged baseship was discovered. They fired their bow cannons not unlike Pegasus had done when it came to Galactica's rescue. One baseship that had already taken moderate damage was blown in two right there. The two halves slowly drifted apart as small explosions rocked both parts. The other two tried to retreat but were also quickly destroyed by the four mighty battlestars bearing down on them. One of them was blown in half and destroyed by internal explosions, while the other was destroyed by missiles fired from the battlestars. All the while the battlestars kept launching vipers, nearly 200 for each battlestar. These pilots were not just some rookies but were the crème de la crème the Colonial Fleet had to offer before the fall. They quickly formed up in squadrons and started mopping up raider formations. Within minutes the raiders were either destroyed or had jumped out. In that time the Prometheus had hunted down and destroyed the last baseship and the other four battlestars had formed up with Pegasus and were already heading for Galactica which had ordered its vipers to perform in the mop up actions.

* * *

**CIC**

**Battlestar Prometheus**

"_This is Galactica to the unknown fleet claiming to be Battlestar group 2, identify yourself or we will fire on you."_

"Send the ID." Woods ordered. "Lieutenant Hoshi, bring 'em the good news."

"Yes ma'am." Hoshi picked up one of the headsets. "Galactica, this is Lieutenant Hoshi of Pegasus, it's for real." He waited a second before continuing. "It's a gods sent, they've already secured the fleet."

"_Adama, is that you?"_ Admiral Peterson asked, not knowing both Battlestars had an Adama in command.

"_Define which Adama you mean, Admiral Adama of the Galactica or Commander Adama of the Pegasus." _Admiral Adama said.

"_The Admiral, come aboard the Zeus after we've jumped towards the rest of your fleet." _Peterson replied.

"_Yes Admiral." _Adama confirmed.

"Commander, all the ships have left the surface of New Caprica, our SAR birds are currently making a final sweet of the colony for anyone left behind." The DRADIS officer reported.

Woods looked up to the DRADIS console and saw that all seven battlestars had formed up in a defensive formation right above the colony. Squadrons of Vipers circled the group and raptors were coming back from the surface.

"Admiral Peterson, SAR missions will be finished in about five minutes sir." Woods reported.

"_Very well Commander, keep me posted." _Peterson replied.

"DRADIS CONTACT! Eight Baseship have jumped right on top of us!" The DRADIS officer yelled out over the alarms blaring through the CIC.

"Defensive fire! Recall our raptors from the planet and tell our vipers to engage!" Woods ordered.

"Radiological alert! They are launching nukes, most towards the planet but we are in the way." The Tactical officer said.

Before anything could be done about it the ship shook violently as a nuke hit it. The mostly glass doors of the CIC shattered and several consoles exploded. Most people were thrown to the deck.

The Prometheus was just trying to come about to bring its bow weaponry to bear on the new Cylons when it took a nuke to the side. Fires raged on the Battlestar's port side hanger bay and several other areas on the port side.

"Damage report!" Woods ordered as she pulled herself up on against the ops table.

"We were hit by a nuke. The port side hanger bay is out of commission, moderate damage to the port side hull and we've got some fires down there." The XO reported.

"The Zeus took two to the top, she's alright though."

"_Battlestar group 2, you know the drill, standard v formation and for gods sake check your line of fire. Pegasus and Galactica, you two jump out, you've got enough damage already, we'll handle it." _Admiral Peterson ordered.

"_Copy that Zeus, we're retrieving the last of our birds now, estimated time to jumps is two minutes." _Adama said.

The five battlestars quickly turned to face their assailants and started firing all their weapons. Viper squadrons engaged raiders and raptors used their missiles to further damage the baseships. The Zeus led the way, to the left of it was the Valiant and the last ship on the left was the Triton. To the right of the Zeus were the Hephaestus and the Prometheus. For a moment it seemed that the baseships had the upper hand but as soon as the defensive barrier was established little to no missiles came through. The group charged through the double sig sag line of baseships cutting the force in two, allowing the battlestars to fire the weapons on both sides of the ship. By the time the entire group had passed four baseships had been destroyed or disabled. With the help of the Vipers and raptors nearly all incoming missiles were destroyed while few outgoing missiles were intercepted by Cylon Raiders which were few by now. At the end of the pass, the group split in three. The Valiant and Zeus took one side while the Hephaestus and Triton took the other side. The Prometheus, which had sustained medium damage passed through the middle which was a mess with the remains of four baseships and hundreds if not thousands of raiders.

Less than ten minutes later the Cylon force was destroyed. Beside the initial attack the Cylons hadn't been able to land much hits on the battlestars so the damage was little.

"_Prometheus, recall your birds and jump back toward the fleet, we'll be there in an hour, leave the SAR to us."_ Admiral Peterson ordered. The Valkyrie class battlestar recalled its vipers and raptors and spooled up its FTL drive before leaving the battlefield far behind.

For the next hour the four remaining battlestars commenced mop up and SAR missions before they too traded the battlefield for the fleet.

* * *

**Port side hanger bay**

**Galactica**

**2 hours after the battle of new Caprica**

The hanger bay was a buzz of activity; vipers were just prepared for a new launch while several raptors received maintenance. Several new raptors drew the attention of most of the people present. Admiral Adama, President Roslin, Captain Agathon, Galactica's XO, Commander Adama, Lieutenant Dualla and Colonel Tigh as well as several marine escorts. When the first raptor opened two marines stepped out, weapons at the side before giving the go ahead to the person inside. A tall graying man stepped out, he wore the emblem of a rear Admiral and Admiral Adama recognized him as Admiral Peterson, his superior by about eight years. The other raptors also opened showing 4 Battlestar commanders. Peterson stepped of the short wing of the raptor and came to a halt before Adama. They exchanged salutes and greetings before Adama introduced the party present.

"Admiral Peterson, meet the new President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, Laura Roslin." Peterson and Roslin shook hands and Roslin said a few word to him before Adama continued. "This is Commander Adama of the Pegasus, and yes he is my son."

"Allow me to introduce to you the commanders of my Battlestars." The commanders climbed down the raptors and formed a single line. "This is Commander Charles Stephenson of the Valiant, Commander Valerie Marks of the Battlestar Hephaestus, Commander Tom Parker of the Battlestar Triton and last but not least Commander Sharon Woods of the Battlestar Prometheus."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all, I think I'd be making an understatement of I'd say we're glad to see you and are thankful for your timely intervention." Adama said. "I'd like to invite you all to come with me and the President to have a talk, things have to be straightened out."

"Very well Admiral, lead the way." Admiral Peterson said.

Adama made a gesture towards the hatch.

As the group of five Commanders, two Admirals and one President and the required escorts reached the conference room, everyone took place on the table present.

"Admiral Peterson, I hope you can understand our curiosity, how did you escape the Cylon attack on the Colonies?" Roslin asked.

"That's very straightforward. I hope you'll tell me how you survived, only two battlestars of which one on the eve of decommissioning. Battlestar group 2 had the task to follow up on a lead from the Exploration Star Columbia, the converted Battlestar Columbia. They discovered a lead on a Cylon strike force crossing the red line, quite some distance from the Colonies. The Admiralty was afraid the Cylons were trying to get behind us for a sneak attack. We were sent to investigate. Our orders were to find and if necessary destroy the Cylon fleet. We were given a large supply train and quite some defenses. The Admiralty expected us to be out there for over five years, so they gave us enough ammunition, food and other supplies to last ten years. When we were deployed for one and a half year, we encountered the remains of the Columbia, from its databanks we could determine that the Cylons were going to strike the Colonies soon. We tried to get back towards the Colonies as soon as we could. Unnecessary to say, we were too late. We found the Colonies destroyed, about a week afterwards. We sent out raptors to scout the area for anyone left behind. We found several civilian convoys. Among those convoys was a fleet of 15 ships, among them the Scylla. They said something about The Pegasus and a slaughter, something I need to talk to you about later. Because of this we knew that there was at least one battlestar out there, so we guessed their might have been more. We spread out again to scout the area and found a Cylon supply base. We looked around and noticed an entire path of support bases all the way here. We followed it and found your civilian fleet and Lieutenant Hoshi, he asked for help and we gave it. It's that simple."

"That's a very interesting story Admiral. May I first say that we have already dealt with the Scylla massacre, those responsible are all dead. They died in the line of duty. I hope Admiral Adama is willing to explain our story." Roslin said.

"As you wish Madam President." Adama said while he composed himself. "We had just finished the decommissioning ceremony when we received an alert from the Admiralty warming of an impending Cylon attack. Fortunately the Galactica wasn't fitted with the Command Navigation Program. We survived the initial attack although we took a nuke. We jumped to Ragnar to resupply and get our things together. A fleet of civilian ships joined us there and after a while we left, the Cylons were watching of course but we held them off so that the civilians could jump beyond the red line and we followed. The next weeks we were constantly attacked by Cylons baseships but we mostly managed to jump out in time. After some time we ran out of water, we found more. We ran out of fuel, we took it from the Cylons; I'll leave the exact details for the logs which you are free to read into. We found Kobol, reinforcing our beliefs that somewhere out there is a planet named Earth, where the thirteenth tribe lives. After Kobol we went on, we found Pegasus, we had some trouble with Admiral Cain and it would have ended badly if she hadn't been shot by a Cylon. Sometime later, we held elections; Roslin was still just replacing Adar until his period expired. Unfortunately Baltar won because he had a triumph card, New Caprica, a place to settle down and to stop living on the cramped ships. For some reason the Cylons found us, they drove what was in orbit of the planet away and more or less imprisoned those living on the surface. Since the occupation we've been working hard to get a rescue plan going. I think you know the rest."

"That is incredible, the Galactica is one tough ship, so much trouble, no way to repair the damage and it still kicks major Cylon ass. How many did you lose?" Peterson asked.

"When we left Ragnar we had a little over 50000 people. Ever since that number has dwindled down to about 41000, of which nearly 8000 died at New Caprica. The Arrival of Pegasus and the rescue of resistance fighters from Caprica increased it a bit as well but I think the total amount of deaths is above 10000 people." Roslin said. "How many people did you have, you mentioned that you rescued several civilian fleets?"

"We have a total population of about 52000 people, of which about 25000 military." Peterson said.

"That much, I don't know about how much people you have aboard a battlestar, but I've learned that both Galactica and Pegasus had an original crew of about 2500." Roslin said.

"Fleets sent on extended missions usually receive additional crew in order to make up for casualties. Add to that, that there is quite a logistical fleet, completely with Tylium Refineries and botanical cruisers, hospital ships, Viper and Raptor manufacturing plants and fleet tenders all use quite an amount of people." Admiral Adama explained. "What I would like to know is if you have already cleared your ships from Cylon infiltrators Admiral Peterson?"

"Excuse me?"

"We have found out that the Cylons can now mimic human form, for all instances and purposes they are undistinguishable from normal humans. One of the few differences is that they will resurrect as long as the resurrection ship is nearby. That plus they can be programmed to do about anything." Admiral Adama said.

"My gods, I hope you've got some pictures of them, this way we can spread them throughout the fleet and see if anything comes up." Peterson said.

Until now the commanders had all been silent. "What about this resurrection ship, can it be destroyed?" Commander Woods asked.

"Yes, we've done that once already, not long after we linked up with Pegasus."

"Well, we've just kicked some major ass out there; there has to be another resurrection ship out there. If we can find it we might be able to destroy it." Commander Valerie Marks of the Hephaestus suggested.

"Perhaps, the thing is that those ships are always guarded by several baseships and squadrons of raiders, especially now we've linked up with you." Peterson said.

"Add to it that we have quite some damage to the Galactica and Pegasus while the Prometheus and Zeus both took some nukes." Admiral Adama said.

"I think that for now we'd need to repair all our ships, some of the civvies have some damage as well. We also need to integrate the fleet and rout out any Cylon infiltrators." Roslin said.

"The two fleet tenders will be at the Galactica's and Pegasus' disposal, they'll be able to repair the two battlestars in no time and nearly as good as any dry dock." Peterson said.

"About time, Galactica hasn't had a major overhaul since five years before the fall." Admiral Adama said.

"In the meantime we can piece together a plan concerning what we are going to do next." Roslin said.

"There are two things I would like to discuss before we leave. First is who is in command, Adama or me? And second is your presidency Madam President, for now I'll follow your lead but I'd like to know some more about the way you became President again." Peterson said.

"For now I suggest a joint command, I'll command the Pegasus and Galactica and the civilian fleet, while you handle your battlestar group and its logistical supply train. All important discussions are to be agreed upon by both of us and if we can't resolve it either the President or the Quorum." Adama pitched in.

"My presidency is, legal so to say although it would never hold in a court room back at the colonies. Tom Zarek, who was Baltar's Vice President, became president after Baltar's impeachment by the military. Zarek in turn gave me the Vice Presidency and then stood down." Roslin said.

"Just a matter of curiosity, what was Baltar Impeached for?" Peterson asked.

"Among others, for collaborating with the enemy, sleeping with the enemy –literally-, making completely unsound discussions, signing the deaths of hundreds of people, including may of Galactica's and Pegasus' crew as well as the current President and Baltar's own Vice President. Those are just the beginning, we also suspect him of planting a bomb in the Colonial defense mainframe although we have no sound evidence for that." Admiral Adama said.

"Alright, thank you. I'll have my marines sweep my ships for any Cylon infiltrators and possibly anything they could have planted. Meanwhile I'll have the copies of our logs sent over to you, and I hope I will receive yours as well." Peterson said.

"Of course, I'll get right on it." Adama replied.

Everyone stood up and shook hands before they all departed for their own ships leaving both Adama's and Roslin behind.

"That was quite a shocker." Roslin said after a few minutes of silence.

"You can say that again." Adama sr. said.

"What do you know about him?" Roslin asked referring to Admiral Peterson.

"He's a career officer, although most Colonial officers of the rank of Colonel or higher were before the fall. I've never personally encountered the man although rumors say he's fair but can also be strict." Admiral Adama said.

"I served under him for half a year aboard the Zeus during my Advanced Tactical Training. What you say is partly true, he's the best Admiral I've had the pleasure of serving under before the fall. From what I've heard from my instructors Peterson and his commanders are the best, when there is something the Admiralty wanted done quick, silent and without too much losses Battlestar group 2 was called in. As long as Peterson understands that we are the last humans out here and that our survival is the main goal, instead of hitting the Cylons hard enough we'll be fine." Commander Adama said.

"Okay, this is what we do. We hold nothing back, we will be completely honest with them and corporate in any way we can. Our possibility of survival just increased dramatically." Roslin said and both Adama's nodded in approval. After a minute Lee walked away to go to the Pegasus. Adama and Roslin walked towards the CIC, it would be another few hours before Colonial One could be brought on board.

* * *

**for now i have nothing more planned, of course there can be more but it depends on the reviews.**

**(if you have an idea for the story don't hessitate to tell me).**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'll be skipping some large parts of the original plot as what some have said is true, there isn't much potential for action e.d. for what was there, now the focus will be more on reaching Earth without all the detours and troubles of only having one old battlestar. So enjoy have fun, and if you can spare the time, leave a review.**

**Press room, Colonial one**

**4 days after the second Exodus**

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, please rise for President Laura Roslin and Admiral's Adama and Peterson." Tory Foster announced. The press members immediately rose as the President and the two Admirals entered the room and took their seats behind a table. As soon as they were seated the press members also took their seats. "Please hold your questions till after the statement has been made."

Roslin started. "Today, Four days after the second exodus, I have been sworn into office again. President Zarek has voluntary stepped down. Tom Zarek will now the take the duty of Vice President. We have lost a lot during the exodus, fortunately we did find allies. Battle Group 2 under the Command of Admiral Peterson. The battle group brought us a lot of supplies and also five strong battlestars. The last few days I and Admiral Adama have been talking with Admiral Peterson about our goals. We have decided to continue on our way towards Earth. Admiral Peterson will stay in command of Battlestar Group 2 while Admiral Adama will remain in command of the Galactica and Pegasus. Although both Admirals have the same rank of Rear Admiral, Admiral Peterson will have final word as he is a more senior Admiral. Nevertheless, Admiral Adama and Admiral Peterson have agreed to share command when a decision is not urgent. I believe Admiral Peterson has several comments about our current military situation." Roslin sat down after she shook Peterson's hand.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Battlestar group 2 isn't just a group of five battlestars. Group 2 has several Hades class escort stars and a large supply train. As some of you might have noticed already, there is also with my fleet, they are just as all of you refugees, we picked them up after the destruction of the colonies. Within days we will start distributing all the supplies we have aboard our ships; we have quite a lot of supplies which is because of our mission about which a report will be release to the press later. Right now both Galactica and Pegasus will be repaired by the fleet tenders that we brought with us. One last thing before I give the word to Admiral Adama. Even though we brought quite a large amount of military personnel, you are always welcome to join up for any branch of the military still in service."

Adama stood up. "As all of you know, the Cylons have the ability to look human. The last three days we've been scanning the entire population for any more Cylons and have removed those we've found and incarcerated them. What you might not know is that one of the Cylons has helped us during the Exodus, this Eight is part of the military aboard Galactica, and she has proven herself trustworthy and will remain in military service. She is considered just another human just as the rest of you and the same rules apply."

**46 days after the second Exodus**

Since the press conference and the announcement that one Cylon had been given a presidential pardon things had first gone downhill before it improved. Several ships had rioted and only intervention from the marines was able to end them. Both Galactica and Pegasus were still with the fleet tenders. Galactica would stay there much longer than expected, during a regular test on the FTL drive it was discovered that there were fractures in the structural support beams. During construction the builders had cut corners and as a result the ship had major structural problems, so much even that she shouldn't have survived their jump into the atmosphere of New Caprica. On a brighter note, Sharon 'Athena' Agathon had helped a research team aboard the Zeus in developing a firewall capable of a least holding the Cylons back for a while, long enough to take it off line. Both Prometheus and Zeus were nearly completely repaired after the nukes they took over New Caprica.

The Prometheus was sent ahead of the fleet in order to scout the route and find new clues to Earth. One of the advanced raptor scouts found a Cylon baseship dead in the water. After marines from the battlestar had entered the ship they found that most of the crew was dead and the remaining few were dying.

**Colonial One**

**Presidential quarters**

Admirals Adama and Peterson were discussing the possibilities of what they'd found with the president.

"So what you are saying is that we have the chance to wipe out the Cylon race once and for all." Roslin said.

"Yes ma'am. The disease will transfer to the resurrection ship once an infected Cylon is killed." Peterson said.

"I assume you already have a plan for this." Roslin said.

"We took the liberty to set up a plan that might work." Adama said.

"Alright, let's hear it." Roslin said.

"We jump to this region, NCD 2539. We know it's an area used by the Cylons for their supplies ships. We jump in a number of battlestars, wait for a Cylon strike force to show up with a resurrection ship and kill the prisoners. The prisoners will download and infect the resurrection network. According to Sharon the Cylon network will be paralyzed in months and the Cylons will be extinct within years." Peterson explained.

"Genocide." Roslin stated.

"Yes ma'am, and a way to survive." Peterson said.

"It is still genocide. Do we really want to do the same thing the Cylons tried to do to us? Do we want to end the other race, can we live with that?" Roslin asked.

"Sharon could live with it, she proposed it. As for the fleet, I doubt anyone would complain against being free from the Cylons." Adama said.

"Very well." Roslin said.

"That leaves me only one thing to do." Peterson said. "Madam President, as senior commander of the Colonial military I request permission to deploy biological weapons against the Cylon race in order to destroy them."

"You have the permission to use biological weapons in the form of the captured Cylon prisoners to destroy the Cylon race." Roslin said. "You will have my written approval on your desk first thing tomorrow morning."

"Where are the prisoners now?" Roslin asked.

"Aboard Galactica, in the Cylon detention facility." Adama said. The brig Sharon was kept in was extended after several extra Cylons were discovered in the new fleet.

"Okay, when are you going?" Roslin asked.

"Two days, we're going to prepare the battlestars. We'll use Galactica and a fleet tender as a diversion. It will also safe us the trouble of transferring the prisoners to another baseship. You can bet the Cylons are going to send in a full force to take out a fleet tender and a battlestar." Adama said.

"We'll leave Pegasus and the seven support stars behind to defend the fleet. We'll jump out before we take any damage." Peterson said.

"Okay, may the gods be with you." Roslin said as she shook both Admirals' hands.

**48 days after the second Exodus**

"Prepare to jump the ship." Adama ordered.

"Jumping in five seconds. Four… Three… Two… One.. Jumping."

A flash announced the departure of the Galactica and fleet tender. Less than a second later the two ships reemerged at the same place. A fleet tender normally completely encloses a battlestar with strong protective covers when making repairs. For this mission the protective covers were partly rolled back to allow some of Galactica's weapons to join the fight.

"What happened?" Adama asked.

"We had a miss jump." Tigh confirmed.

"Is the drive alright?" Adama asked.

"Yeah, the Chief reports no damage and says the drive will be ready in two minutes." Tigh said.

"Agathon, contact Peterson and inform him that the mission is three minutes behind and request he postpones his part accordingly." Adama said.

Agathon quickly contacted Peterson aboard the Zeus and after quick deliberation he agreed.

"Are we ready to jump again?" Adama asked.

"Yes sir."

"Then count us down."

"Jumping in Five… Four… Three… Two… One… Jumping." Tigh said.

The ship jumped and this time it was successful.

**NCD 2539**

A flash announced the arrival of Galactica and the Fleet tender.

"We're there." Tigh announced.

"XO, take a marine squad and prepare the infected Cylons for execution." Adama ordered.

"Sir!" Tigh said in acknowledgement.

The Dradis console beeped several times. "Four baseships jumped in, right on time." Agathon reported.

"Launch Vipers, establish a defensive flak barrier. Signal Peterson we have contact." Adama ordered. The orders were quickly executed and within minutes a small flak barrier was established using the weapons of the Galactica that could fire and the few defenses the fleet tender had.

"Baseships are launching raiders and missiles. Four hundred plus raiders and fifty plus missiles." Agathon reported.

"Tell the vipers to engage, weapons free." Adama ordered.

The eighty vipers that currently composed the Galactica's viper compliment engaged the first of the incoming raiders and missiles. The five battlestars of battlestar group 2 jumped in around Galactica to ensure its protection. Soon hundreds of explosions lit the sky around Galactica as the flak barriers of five battlestars defended the Galactica and the fleet tender. Hundreds of Vipers were also immediately launched by the battlestars.

"Six more baseships jumped into the system. I am also seeing a resurrection ship." Agathon reported.

"_Admiral Adama, this is Peterson, you can execute the prisoners now." _Peterson said over the wireless.

Adama picked up a phone at the Dradis console which was patched in to the PA system. "Colonel Tigh, contact CIC immediately."

It only took Tigh a few seconds to contact CIC as nearly every section had a wired phone. _"XO here."_

"You have a go for the execution, report back when it is done." Adama said.

"_Yes sir."_ Tigh responded as he ended the connection.

Adama waited patiently for Tigh to call back, he assumed it would take a few minutes. Outside the ship the newly launched vipers joined in the battle Galactica's vipers had started. Several more baseships arrived in the system and joined the fight. The five battlestars of BSG 2 were positioned around Galactica to ensure safety from all sides. The Cylons thinking they had a group of battlestars defending a fleet tender and battlestar with FTL problems quickly sent in every ship in the area to finish of the wounded pray as well as several resurrection ships in order to help in the resurrection of the hundreds of raiders that got killed.

The phone at the Dradis console rang indicating someone was trying to contact CIC. "Adama."

"_They're dead. It seems they all suffocated, possibly before the jump but I don't know."_ Tigh said.

"Very well." Adama replied as he put the phone down. "Get me the Zeus."

"On the line."

"Admiral Peterson, we need to abort now, the prisoners were dead when my marines arrived for the execution." Adama said.

"_How the hell did that happen, better yet, when did it happen, before or after the arrival of the resurrection ship?" _ Peterson asked.

"No clue. We'll check the O2 readings to get a fix and a possible explanation. Though I get the feeling that the misjump caused it." Adama said.

"_Okay, we'll jump out momentarily, you and the tender first; we'll recover your vipers before we jump out." _Peterson said.

Adama put the phone down. "Agathon, spool up the drives and sync with the fleet tender. Tell the Vipers to report to battlestar group two, they'll land there."

Galactica's guns fired of a few more round before the ship and fleet tender flashed out. Meanwhile vipers were being recovered by the five battlestars; squadron by squadron they came aboard and were processed by the deck crews. The point defense systems were more and more redirected to defend the near defenseless vipers on their final approach. In order to get everything aboard before they died of old age combat landings were authorized. When finally all Vipers were on board the hanger pods were retracted and the battlestars jumped out.

**50 days after the second exodus**

**Colonial One**

"So our final conclusion is that the FTL misjump shorted out the air regulators for the Cylon brig, the Cylons suffocated before the resurrection ship jumped in. our plan failed." Adama said.

"What caused the FTL misjump?" Roslin asked.

"Probably old age or the repairs. What we do know, is that it wasn't sabotage. There have been several small malfunctions throughout the ship because of the misjump."

"Great, we've probably lost our only chance to kill the Cylons, and now I've got the Quorum on my ass because I didn't inform them about the plan." Roslin complained.

"It doesn't matter. The Cylons can't touch us with seven battlestars and all our escort ships. Our defensive capabilities are too extensive and if they would attack with the required amount of baseships only a few of our nukes would tear apart their fleet." Peterson said.

"Meaning we're in a stalemate. We don't have the power to destroy them and they don't have the power to destroy us." Adama said.

"So now we need to find the Thirteenth Tribe and hope they can help us build more battlestars so we can fight the Cylons."

"Exactly." Peterson said.

"And how is that going? Adama, you currently have a team working on it right?" Roslin asked.

"Correct, Mister Gaeta had taken over Doctor Gaius research and has received the aid of several of Peterson's priests and experts. He says that the basestar with the infected Cylons was near the Lions head Nebula, a road mark on the way to Earth. He is currently mapping a route to Earth taking Pythia as a reference. He estimated that if we don't hit any snags and make an average of one jump a day we will arrive in the general sector of Earth in four months." Adama said.

"That accurate?" Roslin asked.

"Well, according to Gaeta it isn't like Pythia says take a left at the lions head nebula but using several extremely complex calculations and stuff I don't even begin to understand he is quite certain." Adama said.

**93 days after the second exodus**

**Near the Ionian Nebula**

Ever since the encounter at NCD 2539 no contact had been made with the Cylons. The Galactica had been completely repaired and now formed the core of the fleet with the Pegasus. The ships from battlestar group 2 except the Valkyrie were positioned outside the fleet. The Valkyrie had just returned back from one of its recons and reported that the next waypoint to Earth was clear of any Cylon activity. Galactica now also housed the President and the Quorum due to safety reasons.

**CIC, Galactica**

Colonel Tigh counted down the jump clock as the ship prepared to make its 28th jump with the new jump drives. The entire ship had been completely upgraded, its armor was complete for the first in nearly ten years, both hanger bays were in commission and the ship had a full complement of Vipers and Raptors.

"Jumping." Tigh announced as the countdown reached zero.

The trademark flash quickly faded as the ship arrived at its new destination. The Dradis console beeped as the entire fleet arrived.

"All ships present and accounted for." Gaeta announced.

"Good, Tell…" Adama started but he was cut short by every system ceasing activity. "What the hell is going on?!"

"We have ship wide power outages; the entire ship has gone dark." Gaeta reported.

"What caused it?" Tigh asked.

"No clue, it just won't get back up. Switching to emergency power backups." Gaeta said.

The lights in the CIC started to flicker and soon turned to a very low lighting. Several other systems got back on as well but others remained black.

"We have communications." Gaeta reported. "The power failure is fleet wide. Every ship has the same problem."

"CAG, get some raptors outside for Dradis coverage." Adama ordered.

"They've already tried, the elevators aren't working." Agathon said.

"Power is coming back on line."Gaeta said as several more consoles started working and the lighting turned to full. "Dradis is clearing up."

The console beeped multiple times and large formations of red blinked.

"Cylon force right on top of us! I'm reading twelve baseships and hundreds of raiders." Gaeta yelled over the noise in the CIC.

"Launch Vipers, activate weapon systems, tell the civilians to make an emergency jump." Adama ordered.

"Cylons strike force is located at our port side." Tigh said. "The Civilians can't make a jump, their drives were deactivated during the power out, and it'll take them at least twenty minutes to spool up."

"Tell the Civvies to get to our starboard. Create a defensive flack barrier between the fleet and the Cylons, we can take the hits." Adama ordered.

"Peterson has ordered his support stars to protect the civvies, he is charging the Cylon fleet, he requested Galactica and Pegasus to stay behind and help the support stars." Gaeta reported.

"Confirm it." Adama said.

"We have Cylons Centurions infiltrating through a secondary storage airlock. Heavy raiders were under our Dradis the whole time. Nearly five dozen Centurions were unloaded." Tigh announced.

"Spool up the marine units, tell them to engage, take command yourself." Adama ordered.

Saul quickly left after activating the marines aboard the ship with his sidearm in his hands.

**C deck, Frame 29**

"Colonel, we've just stopped the advanced scouts, the main force will be here within a minute, and we currently have them on the security feed." A marine lieutenant said as Tigh approached him.

"Okay, get your men ready. I assume this entire section has been evacuated?"

"Yes sir, everything back to frame 55 has been evacuated; all exits have been sealed shut."

At that moment they heard the mechanical footsteps of the Centurions both immediately tensed.

Some of the crates were stacked to provide some cover and the six marines were behind them. Tigh took a place beside them. When the first centurion rounded the corner it was met with a storm of bullets from the marine's assault rifles. When Tigh saw that the centurion was only slowed down he activated the explosive round launcher on his gun and aimed for the Centurion's red eye. When the pistol beeped to announce it was powered up Tigh shot the centurion through the eye. The head of the Centurion exploded in a shower of debris. All marines took cover from the debris. When they looked up they saw that three more Centurions had rounded the corner. The marines quickly opened fire again. One centurion was taken down as its eye was hit by a marine. Another was taken down after several magazines were emptied at it. The third managed to take down one marine and the marine trying to drag the other out of the line of fire. The now damaged centurion stepped sideways to allow two new centurions through. The first of the new centurions ran forwards, until at only two meters away from the marines it was taken down by several headshots. The second centurion reached the marines nearly untouched. It lashed out with its claws at the nearest marine and killed him by slicing his neck. It then targeted another marine whom it killed by sticking its claws in his upper body. Then it punched Tigh into another stack of crates and kicked yet another marine who flew against the wall and went unconscious. The Centurion turned to the last conscious person, Colonel Tigh and walked towards him. Tigh in a rush had reloaded his pistol and now fired a second explosive round against the Centurion's chest. The machine tried to continue but the damage was too extensive, it collapsed two meters in front of Tigh. The damaged Centurion now slowly walked towards Tigh, who was out of explosive rounds. He emptied the entire magazine into the Centurion's chest to no effect. The mechanical soldier kept going forwards. When it was one meter away it looked at Tigh. Its red eye pulsed and focused on Tigh's only eye. It remained for several seconds after which the Centurion cocked his head and turned around to look at more centurions entering the hallway. Its eye pulsed once again and as one the Centurions turned around and went back. The last centurion however didn't get so far. The marine that was knocked unconscious fired a well aimed explosive round at the base if the Centurion's skull effectively killing it.

"Sir, What the Frack happened?" the marine asked after a minute.

"No idea, I have no idea. I need to get into contact with the CIC." Tigh replied as he tried to stand up.

The marine was a little bit quicker and made his way to one of the phones and pulled it out and gave it to the Colonel.

"_CIC, Gaeta."_ Gaeta answered.

"Tigh here, get me the Admiral." Tigh ordered.

Within a few second Adama was on the line. _"What is it Colonel?"_

"They have retreated, I have no idea what happened but they had us with our pants down but suddenly decided to leave." Tigh said.

"_I've been getting reports from all over the ship telling me the same thing. It also happened in space; the Raiders broke off and returned to their baseships without any regard for their own lives. Within minutes the baseships jumped out."_

"This is one strange battle Bill; I've never seen anything like this."

"_Copy that. Wait for reinforcements to secure your position before returning back to CIC." Adama said._

"Copy that, Out." Tigh said. Within minutes a squad of marines and a medic arrived. The remaining surviving marine was taken away to the sick bay and Tigh headed for the CIC.

**Admiral's Quarters**

**2 hours later**

"What the hell happened down there Saul?" Adama asked Tigh after giving him a glass.

"I, I still don't know. That last centurion came up to me and I thought I was fraked. The thing looked at me and after a moment it just looked towards the other centurions and they left." Tigh said.

"Well, all I can say is that you were gods damned lucky.

"_Admiral Adama report to CIC, pass the word to Admiral Adama."_ The PA announced.

Adama walked to the phone he had in his quarters. "Adama here."

"_Sir, you have an incoming priority one from the Zeus. Patching you through now." _

"_Admiral Adama?" _Peterson asked.

"I'm here."

"_Good, we have new jump coordinates." _Peterson said.

"So soon? Shouldn't we first try to find out what happened at the Ionian Nebula?" Adama replied.

"_Normally I'd agree with you. But the Prometheus has found a probe on its search ahead of the fleet. It isn't Colonial and doesn't match the description of the architecture of the thirteenth tribe and it also isn't Cylon. Commander Woods requested me to come and see it myself, and I'd like you and the President to come to as well."_

"Very well, when will we jump?"

"_Thirty minutes."_

"Okay." Adama replied before he put the phone back on the wall.

**CIC**

**Thirty minutes later**

Adama and Tigh walked in the CIC to find the ship was ready for the jump.

"FTL, Count us down." Adama ordered.

"FTL jump in 5…4…3…2…1… Jumping."

"Agathon, give me a tally on the fleet." Tigh ordered.

"All ships present and accounted for sir. The Prometheus is sending a pair of raptors towing with the probe and Admiral Peterson has taken a Viper." Agathon replied.

"Copy that, direct them to the port side hanger bay. Tell them I'll meet them there with the President."

**Port side hanger bay**

**Five minutes later**

Admirals Adama and Peterson as well as President Roslin stood up on the walkway above the hanger deck watching as the deck crew brought the two raptors and the probe in. As soon as the raptors came to a halt one of the raptors hatch opened. Commander Woods stepped out. The trio on the walkway took the nearest stairs down.

"Commander Woods, I Presume this is the probe you mentioned?" Roslin asked.

"Yes ma'am."

"Where did you find it?" Peterson asked.

"Just right here, it was only twenty five kilometers of our port bow when we jumped it. We nearly blew it out of the skies; we first thought it was a Cylon raider." Woods said.

"Are there any planetoids in the area?" Adama asked.

"As a matter of fact there is. At about 112 AU there is a star, it has several planets and we think one is capable of sustaining life." Woods reported.

"Admiral's! I've got something." Tyrol yelled as he held up a golden plate.

"What is it Chief?" Adama asked as they walked closer.

"Eh, it says: The sounds of Earth. United States of America, Planet Earth. Is it just me or is it strange that I could read that."

"The thirteenth tribe?" Roslin asked.

"According to Gaeta we're not yet close enough." Adama said.

"Perhaps they ended their journey short." Roslin said.

"Anyways, we might want to check out that planet nearby. This probe seems to be about thirty years old, with the speed we found it at its origin can be traced back to the habitable planet." Peterson said.

"That sounds like a good idea." Roslin said.

"It'd be best to send in the Prometheus first, have her launch several raptors to scout the planet, see what kind of stuff is going on, and judging by this United States of America it seems there are several powers on that planet." Peterson said.

"Agreed." Adama said.

"When do you want me to leave sir?" Woods asked.

"Once the repairs to the Prometheus are done. Make sure you remain undetected. We don't know how advanced they are so be cautious."

"We detected a moon over the habitable planet, we'll make a small jump to the other side of the moon, and this way we can't be detected. We'll launch raptors to take a peek around the moon and decide if it's safe." Woods said.

"Fine, take some of the new blackbirds the Pegasus built, they might come in handy." Adama said.

"Commander Woods, if you don't mind, I'd like to come as well." Roslin said.

"Of course I don't mind, you're always welcome aboard the Prometheus. Although I must remind you of the fact that we have no clue what we're jumping into." Woods said.

"Okay, give me a warning when you're leaving." Peterson said.

"Will do." Woods said before she walked off to one of the raptors for the ride back.

**Next: first contact to Earth, What kind of state is Earth in (hint Voyager 1(not the series, the probe)) and what will the colonials do to help.**

**If you've got any ideas, let me know, I'm kind of making this up as I go.**


	3. chapter 3

**At the advise\request\demand of a lot of readers and after having watched it myself if will make this story a cross over with the West Wing. No worries for those who haven't seen it, I'll focus more on the BSG side, but it does allow me to exploit the interesting characters from the west wing. The time line for the west wing will be changed a bit since this does take place in the present. So say, season 4, the end, but before Zoey gets kidnapped. This chapter will only see some slight changes, but the next, if it ever comes will have better interaction for the west wing crew.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the west wing or Battlestar Galactica and any affiliated characters etc. and I don't make any money from this fic.**

**CIC, Prometheus**

**Far side of the moon**

**100 days since the second exodus**

Woods was just tending to her business in the CIC as the president walked in.

"Madam President, what brings you to the CIC?" Woods asked.

"I thought I get a report from you now, I don't want to wait any longer." Roslin said.

"You're curious if these people can help us or not right?" Woods asked.

"Yes, that is true. So spill it, what have you got."

"The planet is divided. There are many more powers then we thought. Fortunately not all are major powers and there seems to exist a reasonable stable peace between the majors. Some of the smaller and major powers however are involved in what they call a war on terror. The most powerful nations can be found on the northern hemisphere. The nation most like our own before the fall are the United States of America, they have fought several wars against dictators since the forming of the nation. The US, as they are usually called, has the most powerful and advanced army, infrastructure and industry. The US has several allies; they are bonded together in something called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO for short. In the last nine years the US has started two wars in response to a terrorist attack nine years ago that involved hijacked planes crashing in skyscrapers. There are five countries that officially have nuclear weapons, but there are also some who might have them, we can't scan for ourselves." Woods said.

"How about political and religion?" Roslin asked.

"There seem to be many religions, the largest is Christianity, the second largest is Islam, these two don't always mix well together. The terrorist attacks seem to have been done by ultra radical Islamists, a bit like Soldiers of the One, before the first Cylon war. Anyways, the US and many of its allies have freedom of speech imbedded in their laws. There seems to be no religion like ours but some do have similarities. If I can make a suggestion, if we approach there are two good options, the US or the international organization called the United Nations, they represent the entire planet. Downside of them is that every nation has a say and a decision can easily take months if not years."

"Do you have any idea how to contact the United States? Do we need to do it publicly or keep it secret and give them the chance to make it public or keep it secret themselves." Roslin asked.

"We might be able to hack into their communications network; it's based on satellites orbiting the planet." Woods said.

"Do they have any space flight capability?"

"They have very primitive shuttles, a few habitats, the biggest being the International Space Station, it is primarily a research station, a few days ago they launched a shuttle to deliver new parts but overall they have no noteworthy space capabilities."

"DRADIS ALERT!" an officer yelled as the Dradis console beeped.

"They launched another shuttle?" Woods asked as she looked up at the Dradis console which showed a yellow contact, an unknown contact.

"Negative, it's near one of the other planets in the system, a planet called Mars." The Dradis officer said.

"I thought they only had primitive space capabilities, how were they able to get to a planet that far away?" Roslin asked.

"They can't." Woods said. She looked at the dradis console again hoping the contact would change or disappear. "Stealth systems are active, right?" she quickly received an affirmative from the responsible officer. "Set condition one throughout the ship, launch four Blackbirds on an intercept course for the contact. Tell them to go in at stealth mode." Alarms started blaring and preparations were made to launch four Blackbirds. A Raptor was launched with the newest Intel and jumped to the Fleet at the edge of the system.

"Blackbirds one through four are underway, time to intercept four minutes." The CAG announced.

"What is the contact doing?" Woods asked.

"It is in a geosynchronous orbit over Mars." The Dradis officer said.

"Can the people of Earth see it?" Roslin asked.

"Our Intel suggests they would only see it if they are looking for it or if they get lucky, they don't have a Dradis system." Woods said.

"Blackbirds are nearing the target. No identification yet. One minute away." The CAG said.

"Who's lead on the Blackbirds?" Woods asked.

"Captain Thrace Ma'am." The CAG said.

"Starbuck, what' she doing here, why did Bill let her go?"

"The Admiral said she was the best Blackbird pilot seeing as she made the maiden voyage. That plus I think he wanted to have someone here to keep an eye on you Madam President." Woods said.

"Adama will never change I guess." Roslin said.

"_Prometheus, this is Starbuck. We have a Cylon heavy raider here, it seems to have an enlarged sensor array, perhaps to scan the planet. Request permission to engage." _

"Granted, Weapons free engage the target and destroy. If there is anything left have a raptor pick it up." Woods ordered.

"_Copy that. Okay you nuggets, number two cover me, three and four stay at a distance and watch out for any other bogeys." _Thrace's voice came over the intercom. Sounds of her Blackbird powering up and readying weapons came through as well as sound of weapons fire.

"_This is Starbuck, target is destroyed, there are a few pieces left, might be useful to send a raptor to pick them up. From what I could see the heavy raider's package included geological sensors, perhaps they were looking for tylium ore."_

"Copy that Starbuck, sending a raptor to pick up the pieces and another to start a geological survey of the planet Mars." Woods said. "Stay around to secure the site."

The CAG automatically relayed the orders to the flight deck.

"What is the chance there is Tylium on that planet?" Roslin asked.

"Small, there is a gas giant in this system that has a much better chance of containing liquid Tylium, if not said giant has several moons which are also possible candidates." Woods said.

"Very well, if there is anything else, you know where to find me." Roslin said. She turned around towards the door but remembered something. "Can you ask Kara Thrace to visit me once she is back aboard?"

"Yes Ma'am. First thing once she's back." Woods said.

**Hanger deck**

**Two hours later**

Thrace's blackbird was brought into the hanger deck, the canopy quickly withdrew and Thrace took of her helmet. The deckhands quickly placed the blackbird into its designated slot. A ladder was brought up against the side of the blackbird and Thrace made her way down it.

"Chief, I need the post flight checklist stat; I wanna hit the showers as soon as I'm done here." Thrace said as the chief approached the captain.

"Yes ma'am, right on it." The chief replied.

"Thrace!" Woods said from up on the walkway. "The president wants to talk to you."

"Yes ma'am, on it."

**Commander's room**

A knock on the door announced the arrival of Thrace. She was quickly allowed in after the marines checked her.

"Starbuck. I'd like to think the old man sent you here because of your flying skills, but honestly I think he's just worried." Roslin stated.

"You'd have to ask him about that madam president." Thrace said. "But it might also be because the Admiral wants to have his best pilot there when we contact the Earthlings."

"Because you are such a good diplomat." Roslin said half sarcastic, half laughing.

"For my stunning beauty of course, what else. Besides, someone has to show them how to fly." Kara said, now laughing loud.

"So now back to being serious. What do you think about these Earthlings?" Roslin asked.

"Well, for starters, we need to give them another name. Second, we need to make contact rather sooner than later. We've had at least one Cylon heavy raider in this system and they're bound to start missing it soon. Third, and last for now, I need some new meat, all the pilots have been trained and are at the peak of their ability."

"I agree about the first two, and I don't really care about the third. So let's get both admirals and the fleet here and get this party on the road." Roslin said.

**Plot room**

**Galactica**

The president had been brought back to Galactica to discuss the first contact with the earthlings. The quorum and senior commanders of the military were present to establish a plan.

"Ladies en Gentlemen. During my stay aboard the Prometheus, Captain Thrace and I have made a plan to contact Earth. Captain, if you will?" Roslin said as she waved Thrace up to the table.

"We plan to contact the President of the United States of America directly by hacking into their communications network. We will give them the choice to make our arrival public. As has been stated in the briefing package the Earthlings can be quite paranoid. The fleet will be divided into several groups and stationed throughout the system. In case of a Cylon attack we will bring all warships where they are necessary and the civvies somewhere safe."

"What will happen after we made contact?" A quorum member asked.

"That depends on what they want. Hopefully we can enter into a dialogue with them. Secure a place for us to live, and perhaps an alliance of sorts." Thrace said.

"How do you want to convince them that we are real? As you said they can be quite paranoid and someone getting the personal line to the president of a nation can sound like a nut job hacker from earth trying to pull a joke on them." The Caprica Quorum member asked.

"We know that a small part of their satellite coverage is aimed outwards, probably searching for other life or asteroids. We will put one of our battlestars right in front of it before we make the call. Hopefully that will get their attention." Thrace answered.

"And what if they don't want us or outright declare war on us?" the Saggitaron Quorum member asked.

"As far as we know the only thing they can use against us are land or sea based ICBM's meant to destroy another country by nuking it into a nuclear winter. Even so, we can determine most of the positions of these ICBM's and shoot them down before they'll become a threat." Thrace said. "If they don't want us, we'll either have to persuade them or leave for another system. There is a system, called Alpha Centauri by the people of Earth at about 4.37 light years from the sun of this system. It is one of the closest to Earth and might even be viable to sustaining life."

"So when are we going to start this mission?" the Virgon Quorum member asked.

"As soon as we have the Quorum's approval and the plan is final." Roslin said.

"Well, let's vote for it now, perhaps we already have a majority." The Caprica Quorum member suggested.

"Fine. All in favor of the plan to contact the Earthlings via the president of the United States of America please raise your hand."

All twelve quorum members raised their hands and the plan was accepted.

Thrace leaned over to Admiral Adama who stood next to her and whispered. _"That was fast, I think they just broke a record."_

Adama chuckled softly before replying. _"I knew there was a reason I didn't throw them out of an airlock the first chance I got." _

"Admiral Adama, now that the mission has been approved by the Quorum, you are welcome to commence the plan whenever you're ready." Roslin said.

"Very well. Captain, set time at T minus thirty minutes. Signal all ships in the fleet and tell them to commence operation Z, standard pattern. To all other commanders here, I'd say you'll need to get back to your ships." Adama said. "I'd also like to invite the Quorum to attend the meeting from this plot room. It'll be the Galactica that'll make first contact and attract their attention."

The Quorum members all nodded in unison while a timer above the plot table started running down from 30 minutes.

During the next thirty minutes all ships were prepared for anything, the battlestars loaded up their guns just in case, the vipers were given an extra check and were fueled and armed to the max. the civilian fleet also put their FTL drives at condition one meaning it would take less than thirty seconds to spool them up in case of an emergency. Some additional equipment was brought into the plot room. All commanders left for their ships and more personnel were brought in.

When the timer neared zero everyone tensed up.

"Prepare for FTL Jump." Adama ordered his XO through a wired phone.

The timer reached zero and beeped before starting counting again. Simultaneously Adama ordered the 'Jump'.

The battlestar appeared with its trademark flash right in front of Earth's Hubble telescope setting of several alarm bells on the planet below.

"Geata, start the hack." Adama ordered. Geata, whom had first been able to hack into the nearly undefended internet, quickly hacked into the White House's phone network getting quick access to the president's private line. Roslin picked up one of the headsets lying around and on cue started talking.

"_Who is this?"_ Came the voice of president Bartlet.

"I am President Laura Roslin of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. I'll be very straightforward. Before you hang up I'd like you to get on the phone with whoever is in control of your satellites, ask him to take a look at what the Hubble telescope is currently looking at."

"_Is this some king of joke? You know what kind of trouble you're in once my people catch you. Hacking into the White house alone will get you life imprisonment. Stop it now and I can assure you my people will go easy on you." _Bartlet stated angrily not willing to play a game.

"I can assure you mister president that I am not joking. I am currently aboard the battlestar Galactica, a space ship. We wish to open a peaceful dialogue but we didn't want to scare your planet into chaos. Therefore we contacted you directly, so that you could decide what to do with our existence."

Roslin and the entire Quorum waited patiently while they heard hushed speaking on the other side. Apparently someone just told president Bartlet something interesting.

"_I just received word that the Hubble Telescope has indeed detected your spaceship, the people working with the satellite also tell me it has a lot of, what they think are weapons, care to explain?"_

"That is correct, the ship, called the Galactica was one of the 120 battlestars that made up the Colonial Fleet before the nuclear annihilation, now there are only seven left. The thing is, several years ago, an artificial race that we created called the Cylons destroyed our colonies without warning. Ever since the destruction we've been looking for a planet that our sacred scrolls called Earth, the home of the Thirteenth tribe. Now, we've already established that your Earth isn't the one indicated in the scrolls, but nevertheless we'd wanted to ask for your help."

"_I am very sorry to hear that madam president. How can I trust you when I haven't even seen you and you already have one of your warships in orbit of the planet and six more somewhere out there?"_ Bartlet asked.

"I can assure you that we are not here to conquer you. We hope to be able to gather your help in defeating the Cylons, even now it is likely that they're still somewhere out there and looking for us. If no one from your planet wants us, we'll leave peacefully without doing you any harm, you have my word. If you'd want to meet me, you'll only need to give me the coordinates and I'll see what the pilots can do."

"_You want to land that entire ship of yours? How do you want me to hide that?"_

"Not the Galactica. We have smaller ships which can take on a multitude of roles; one of them is personnel transportation."

An ensign walked up to Adama and gave him a note. Adama in turn, gave the note to Roslin.

"Mister President, it seems that your security is breached, our technicians have spotted news broadcasts reporting pictures taken of the Galactica by the Hubble telescope."

"_The Hubble telescope is a civilian program; anyone who regularly uses the Hubble can access it. I think we should meet face to face soon, how about my front lawn in four days? I hope there will be enough room for you to land one of your raptors."_

"That would be most welcome; I'll have my people coordinate with your people for additional instructions."

"_If you don't mind, I'd like to get my cabinet together and discuss what will happen the next few days. How can we contact you?"_

"I'll have my people send you some frequencies that are secure. My people will call your secretary within minutes for the information."

"_Alright, thank you very much; it's refreshing talking to someone who's so straightforward. I hope to see you in four days good bye."_

"Bye." Roslin said before she put the headset down. "That went well."

"Almost too good to be true." Adama said.

"Sir, there is already news coverage about small riots in some cities." Geata said.

**Hanger deck **

**Galactica**

**104 days since the second exodus**

**0900 hours**

**March 12 2010**

"So what's the latest?" Roslin asked Adama while he guided her towards the raptor that was going to take them down to the planet. Roslin was still weak for the cancer had returned and was ravaging through her body. Doc. Cottle hadn't given her much more than a month.

"They have agreed to an escort of eight vipers and a total of four raptors. We will take a raptor flown by Kara with a few marines and Ishay, while a second raptor will have an additional guard detail. The other two raptors will be loaded to the brim with missiles and marines in case this turns ugly. Once we're through the upper atmosphere their fighters will take up guard duty over the capital. The CAP will be flown by four groups of four fighters, two of ours and two of theirs. Galactica will have two squadrons in the tubes at all times as well as several blackbirds."

"How about mister Lampkin?" Roslin asked.

"Romo Lampkin has been sworn in as vice president and is aboard the Zeus and in lockdown until you're back aboard Galactica." Adama said. After several, less then legitimate actions of Tom Zarek were discovered, Roslin had al she needed to kick him to the curb and install a new vice president. Eventually Romo Lampkin was chosen as he had no political ambitions whatsoever which suited Roslin and Adama just fine.

"He'll love that." Roslin laughed.

Thrace came walking towards them in her dress uniform and after confirming that the raptor was ready to go took the other arm of Roslin to guide her to the Raptor. Once they reached the raptor, Ishay helped Roslin up into the raptor and into a comfortable seat. Next Thrace got in taking the pilot seat while Adama took the co pilot seat. Then four marines got in and the raptor was packed.

The four raptors that were assigned to the mission were brought towards the lifts that would bring the raptors on the flight deck. Once they arrived there Thrace asked permission for departure of Raptor one. She got permission to leave and she and the other three raptors took off. Once outside the hanger bay eight viper Mk.7's joined up and took position around the raptors.

Together the twelve craft sped towards the planet's northern hemisphere. Once they got into range eight US F-22 raptors took escort positions together with the vipers. At an altitude of 1000 meters, they passed Reagan airport and the vipers and F-22's leveled off while the raptors continued to descend towards the white house. Once they passed the Washington monument the raptors slowed down and dropped to treetop level. The two raptors carrying the president and security detail eventually landed right in front of the white house while the other two hovered at about a hundred meters to provide over watch until Secret Service could take over.

Outside the concrete cordoning thousands of civilians shouted carrying signs with a variety of messages. Since the arrival of the Colonials, the planet had undergone mass rioting which could only be contained by declaring martial law in several areas and deploying the military. Eventually the riots died down but people were still angry and afraid of the colonials. Nevertheless, President Bartlet still wanted to meet Roslin and had gotten a lot of support from the Congress, as they too didn't know what to do but support their president.

Once the two raptors had settled down, the hatches opened. The presidential escorts exited first. Normally the escorts, who were marines, were dressed in their black uniforms, but for this occasion they had changed into their formal uniform with their pistols in waist holsters. Once the escorts signaled the all clear, Thrace and Adama exited as well as the pilot of the other raptor. They both stood beside the short wing of the raptor waiting for Roslin who was being guided by Ishay, the last to exit the raptor. Adama and Thrace helped Roslin down the raptor and Ishay climbed of herself while she took a bag of medical supplies with her.

While Roslin was being unloaded, several secret service agents approached them while President Bartlet was also walking towards them. His wife and chief of staff were waiting at the entrance to the white house itself.

Roslin straightened herself before she took a few steps forwards to greet President Bartlet. At all times she was flanked by both Adama and Thrace. Several photographers kept shooting their film as the two presidents and their entourages approached each other.

Once they reached each other they shook hands and traded messages of welcome and gratitude as well as several jokes. They soon moved inside where they got down to business. Topics as the Cylons, resurrection, battlestars, Earth politics, the War on Terror, the possibility of an alliance, intentions and the presidents Cancer were discussed before they and several American dignitaries attended a banquet. Afterwards, when it was getting late, the colonial delegation got back to their raptors, which were still at the white house lawn.

The entire process of unloading earlier that day was reversed and the raptors started their engines.

"Galactica, this is raptor one, we are leaving within the minute, standard formation and flight route, ETA twenty two minutes." Thrace said once she had made contact with Galactica. The two security raptors were already flying overhead to provide security while the vipers were also flying close by.

As the raptor's engines were finally warmed up, Starbuck contacted the pilot of the other raptor. "Racetrack, this is Starbuck, we're engines hot and ready to go, copy."

"_Starbuck, Racetrack. We're engines hot also and ready to follow your lead."_ Racetrack responded within seconds.

At the confirmation of Racetrack, Starbuck powered the vertical thrusters and the raptor took off with a small hint of hesitation. The second raptor also climbed to about 25 meters before it started moving southwards.

Just as the two raptors were picking up speed, two missiles streaked out from the still protesting civilians. The first hit just behind the hatch of Racetrack's raptor. The hatch was blown away and two marines were blown out towards a horrible death. The second missile hit Thrace's right engine destroying it. There was no chance for Racetrack's raptor. It crashed several hundred meters from the white house into a building. The pilot and co pilot were able to bail out right before the crash but the rest were killed as the raptor exploded. Thrace just punched the throttle down attempting to get as high as she could, as fast as she could. Fortunately the Raptor was designed to function with one engine.

On the ground American Secret Service and police tracked down the launchers of the missiles and after a small firefight captured three of the shooters and killed four. The missiles were two stinger missiles fired from the back of a van.

**CIC Galactica**

"_Galactica, Starbuck here, our starboard engine has been blown out; I have damage to several other systems but will try to make orbit by use of FTL. Request backup."_

"Copy that starbuck, help is on the way." Tigh responded. He turned to Lieutenant Geata. "Geata, send the signal to the Pegasus and Prometheus."

Geata already knew which signal to send, as he devised the signal plan, quickly sent it.

Within seconds the Valkyrie appeared beside the Galactica.

The Pegasus however had a far more dramatic entrance planned. To get the vipers where they were needed fast without requiring them to descend they had to be brought into the atmosphere.

The Pegasus appeared high above the Washington DC launching vipers from the moment they completed the jump. Many civilians fled indoors thinking that hell was falling upon them. When all tubes were cleared the Pegasus jumped again sending a shockwave over all of Washington DC.

The raptor soon vanished from the Dradis console as it made the jump. It however did not appear in space.

"Geata where are they?" Tigh asked.

"How the hell should I know, Dradis is not picking them up." Geata yelled out. A signal came in. "Wait, I'm receiving their locator beacon."

"_Krypter, Krypter, krypter, this is Raptor one, we are going down." _Thrace came in over the wireless. Krypter was the colonial form of mayday.

"Geata, Location."

"Last known earth grid was; 20.568856 by negative 75.255418. An Island called Cuba.

"Redirect all vipers and launch additional raptors to secure the crash site. What do we know about Cuba?"

"They're not friendly." Geata replied.

"Tell all our units they have permission to fire when they feel threatened.

Down on the planet the crashed raptor showed no sign of life.

* * *

**so, I'm sorry for the long wait, this fic is not my main priority, school is and i am also writing alliance wars. nevertheless i will try to get you guys and girls an update. someday.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Sorry for the long wait. I have taken your advice and changed Obama into Bartlet from the West Wing series. If you haven't noticed I also changed a bit from the previous chapter to match this. Those whom are wondering about a chapter for: The alliance wars, a new chapter is in the works but I recently lost quite a bit of progress when I overwrote the wrong backup, I actually wrote an old backup over the more current version, stupid me. But it is coming, that I promise. For now I give you chapter four of Rescue over New Caprica.**

**Thanks to Rudy Pena for the beta.**

**Raptor 1 Crash Site**

The raptor was thrashed to say the least. It had come to a halt against a bunch of trees. Both Adama and Thrace were hanging from their seats as the raptor was upside down. The people in the back of the raptor hadn't worn seatbelts and were thrown across one another. The windshield was cracked but not broken. Most of the systems aboard were not working, from one of the emergency radio's the sound of the rescue party could be heard, calling out for them constantly.

Both Thrace and Ishay were the first ones to regain conscious.

"Hello, Anyone alive?" Ishay asked while she checked the marine lying over her for a pulse, which she didn't find.

"Yeah, hanging from my seatbelts though." Thrace said as she coughed.

"Captain, I'll get you out in a sec." Ishay said.

"No, check the president first." Thrace said.

"Right." Ishay said. She first pushed the dead marine of her before looking around for the president. When she found her it didn't look good. She had several cuts on her face and a deep cut on her forehead. She checked her pulse, and rechecked. After that one was negative she tried the president's neck. There, she also didn't find a pulse.

"Captain, I think we have a problem." Ishay said.

Thrace remained silent.

"Kara?"

A loud bang came from the cockpit.

"Captain, Are you alright?"

"Yeah, my seatbelts failed. How is the president?"

"They don't fail, you cut them or something?"

"I know, how's the president?"

"No pulse, I think she's dead."

"Bastards!" Thrace said as she slammed her fist into a dead console.

"I need you to check the Admiral." Ishay said while she checked the other three marines for a pulse.

Starbuck quickly made her way back into the cockpit and felt Adama's pulse, which was still there.

"He's alive, How are the marines?"

"Two dead, two alive. One of 'em seems to have a broken arm but beyond that, just some scrapes and bruises."

"Don't we all." Kara responded rhetorically.

"Can you try to get the hatch open? I need to get these two out of here, I can't help them here." Ishay said.

"Not a chance, the thing opens upwards. Our only way out is through the windshield. I'll try to break it." Thrace said as she started kicking at the windshield.

"Captain, hHow long do you think it'll take our people to find us?" Ishay asked while she was checking Adama more thoroughly.

"Depends on if they got my message about our location, if so, an hour at most."

"And what if they didn't?"

"Then they won't find us, they wouldn't have seen us reappearing this low and the raptor doesn't send out any type of signal." Thrace said.

"Nice." Ishay sighted.

Thrace kicked the windshield once more and it finally gave in.

"Ishay, we've got a way out."

"Finally, help me get this marine out first, he's worst off."

"Sure, give me a minute, just got to clear the edges."

Soon Kara came back into the back of the raptor and took the legs of the marine Ishay indicated. They moved the marine outside and went inside to get the other. As they got the other marine outside, they took Adama out of his seat; he was starting to come by. Kara went back in again to get the medical supplies so that Ishay could properly take care of the marines.

While Ishay and Kara were taking care of one of the marines Adama came by. "Starbuck?"

"Sir, how are you feeling?" Ishay asked.

"Like I was hit by a battlestar. How's the president?"

"Catch its number?" Thrace asked. "Help will be here soon." Thrace reassured him.

"You didn't answer my question Kara."

"I know." Kara said. "She's dead."

"No." Adama said. His eyes started to water as he tried to hold his tears back. Kara hugged him as she too was near crying.

"Thrace, I think we've got company." Ishay said as she watched their surroundings.

Thrace walked up to where Ishay was kneeling down with her hand already on her sidearm. When she reached her she knelt down also and watched the area that Ishay pointed out.

"Damn, how much do you count? I count twelve, heavy weapons and a dog."

"About the same, not sure about the weapons, but I'm just a medic, not a soldier." Ishay replied.

"Alright, wake up those two marines. I'll get the heavy weapons from the raptor." Thrace said, jumping back into warrior mode.

Thrace grabbed the only two marine assault rifles that were present in the raptor and took their ammunition.

"This marine is still unconscious, he might be close to a coma, the other one has a broken arm, I doubt he'll be able to fire a gun." Ishay said as Thrace exited the raptor with the two rifles. "Are they even hostile?"

"No clue, but right now I'm considering anyone not wearing colonial fatigues a hostile." Thrace said. She loaded up one of the rifles and gave the other to Adama as he motioned her to give him the other.

"Ishay, we're going up to that little ridge see if they wanna play." Adama said as he pointed to the small ridge about twenty meters away. They were fortunate; the other force had to travel through the valley that was located on the other side of the ridge.

As Thrace and Adama took positions on the ridge they were fired upon by the enemy patrol. Immediately they let of a burst of fire. The range was still too great. Their rifles had a range of 600 meters, but an effective range of just a third. For now the enemy was out of range. By now they'd been stuck for nearly half an hour.

Thrace and Adama fired sporadic, just to keep them at bay. The enemy tried to advance under the cover of smoke. As they exited the smoke cloud, only two hundred meters away from the ridge, they were within range of Thrace and Adama, who both fired several salvo's, killing three. The return fire had them ducking for cover. As they stood up again to fire, Adama could see through the smoke screen, which was wavering. He didn't like what he saw.

"Kara, they are using a radio, they might try to bring in reinforcements or an artillery barrage." He yelled over the noise of the battle.

"Then we better get our ass out of here!"

"We can't, we have one person in a coma, and we cannot leave the president's body here." Adama said.

"I don't think the President would mind if we'd survive, do you?"

"Right. Ishay, make a stretcher for that marine, we're gonna have to move out soon." Adama said after he emptied a magazine at one of the incoming soldiers, dropping him.

Beside the sounds of assault rifles firing, the sound of vehicles started to grow louder and louder.

"Sir, we've got incoming vehicles, sounds like a lot of 'em." Thrace yelled.

"Then we better move out fast. Ishay, how far along are you with that stretcher?"

"Just a minute, I'm almost done."

Just then, four APC's exited the tree lines on the other side of the valley. Moments later, two tanks followed. The APC's stopped to allow their compliments to exit. Over a platoon worth of soldiers exited and started advancing. More and more APC's and tanks exited the tree line to charge across the valley.

"Ishay, get him and run, we can't hold out!" Adama yelled.

"Sir, you hear that?" Thrace yelled.

Adama stood still for a moment, listening intensely when he picked up the high pitched noise of a Viper engine.

"Pop some flares, show them where we are. Ishay, get back here, our people have arrived." Adama said.

Kara quickly popped some flares and a first flight of four vipers flew over, they didn't fire, but did notice them and the threat to them. The next flight of vipers engaged the hostile units traveling across the valley. They fired their cannons killing a number of soldiers, and one APC. The tanks however were too well armored. Fortunately several of the raptors that followed were equipped with a heavy weapons package. They used their missiles to destroy the advancing tanks and APC's. As soon as the hostile units were destroyed, several raptors landed near the crashed raptor.

Marines and a few medics exited the raptors and immediately made their way towards the crashed raptor. About half the marines took up guard on top of the ridge while the others secured the area around them. Adama and Thrace were approached by Sergeant Harder, a marine from Galactica. She saluted them.

"Sir, Where is the president, we need to get her out of here ASAP?" she asked.

"She's dead sergeant. We have two wounded marines and two dead ones. Now please get us the hell out of here." Ishay said as both Adama and Thrace didn't say anything.

"First we need to destroy the raptor; we can't have it fall into enemy hands. Pull out the databanks and place charges at all critical components, especially the jump drive. Then when we're all clear blow it. The Tylium on board should take care of anything else left." Thrace said.

"Yes ma'am, I'll have someone do that right away. You on the other hand need to get into that raptor which will take you to the Galactica, you too Admiral." Sergeant Harder said.

"Very well Sergeant." Thrace said as she moved off towards the indicated raptor.

Once Adama, Thrace, Ishay and the body of the President were on board the hatch closed and the raptor took off escorted by four vipers and set course towards the Galactica.

"Admiral, I have Admiral Peterson aboard the Zeus on the line." The pilot said as he handed a headset to him.

"Peterson, this is Adama."

"_Bill, what happened, is the president alright?"_ Peterson asked.

"No, she's dead. You… you need to swear in the Vice President. We were attacked with RPG's, don't know who, and don't know why though that doesn't really matter right now."

"_I'll get right on that, I trust I see you soon?"_

"Yeah, we need to determine what to do next. Do we demand some kind of retribution or do we continue as if nothing happened." Adama said.

"_You can bet your ass they'll keep bringing the Pegasus' entrance up at every next meeting as a sign of our aggression."_

"That's bull and they know it. For now I'd suggest standing the fleet down from condition one to condition two, we need to think about what to do next."

"_Copy that, out."_

**Four hours later**

**Admiral's quarters, Battlestar Zeus**

"_Admiral Peterson, I have a call from President Bartlet of the United States of America on line four."_ The personal intercom buzzed.

"You ready for this Mister Pesident, Bill?" Peterson asked.

"Yeah, let's do it." Adama replied. Lampkin just nodded, still unable to get it through his head that he was the president now. At that Peterson punched in his personal access code and the call got put through.

"President Bartlet, my name is Admiral Peterson. With me are Admiral Adama and President Romeo Lampkin."

"_Thank you for taking my call; I have my chief of staff with me right now. May I ask how President Roslin is doing?"_

"I'm afraid President Roslin was killed in the crash." Peterson said after Lampkin gave him the go-ahead.

"_My, oh my god. I-I- I am so sorry for your loss."_ Bartlet stammered. _"I know that it seems that nothing I can say will make this loss any less for you, but we'll investigate and prosecute these terrorists to the full extent of the law and we will do anything in our power to prevent any of this from happening again. Again I am very sorry for all this."_

"It was in the scrolls, she was destined to die." Lampkin said.

"_I beg your pardon?"_

"The holy scriptures say that the dying leader would not live to see the new lands. President Roslin had terminal breast cancer and was our leader; it was something we feared would happen." Adama said.

_That is quite a literal interpretation of your religious book if I may say so." _Bartlet commented.

"So far the book of Pythia has been right all along." Adama said.

"I don't mean to sound insensitive, and don't mistake I am, but we need to look further than this. Right now my duty is to take care of the remainder of the colonies." Lampkin said. "I never really cared for politics, they're all imposters if you ask me, no offense intended Mister President. What I would like and what I think would be right for the fleet is to have a stable alliance with the people of Earth and in particular with the United States of America as a lead partner in that alliance."

"_How do you see such an alliance take shape? Where do you suppose we house your people, you can't stay aboard your ships forever, these are all good questions that need answering. But what we need for now is to make sure the general population supports you and welcomes you. Right now the people fear you and as we've so painfully seen will lash out against those whom they fear." _Bartlet said.

"What do you suggest?"

"_I suggest we start a media campaign. Send film crews to your ships to show them who you are and that you do not mean us any harm. Have dignitaries come down to be part of talk shows, send journalists up to interview your citizens, to get acquainted with each other. Share information, books, music, culture in a word."_ Bartlet suggested. _"And above all, no more warships appearing in high orbit, falling down like a rock and disappearing just as quick as they appeared."_ He joked.

"I promise you such a thing won't happen again, it's too hard on the ships anyways." Adama said.

"I think an exchange of culture and each other stories would be good to the relations between our two peoples. Furthermore I think we can arrange for the press to visit the fleet, there are some areas that would be off limit of course." Lampkin said.

"_That would be great. I hope you can do the transport, our ways of space travel are quite costly and ineffective, especially compared to yours." _

"I'm sure that can be arranged, though I suggest we keep the raptors away from any dangerous places."

"_I think the marines can clear the area around Andrews Air Force Base. If you don't mind I'd like to send up a diplomatic party as well. They will hopefully be able to improve the relations between our two peoples. They can help you understand us and you can show them how you are, how you do things." _Bartlet said.

"That sounds good. I am looking forward to meeting your people Mister President." Lampkin said.

"There are some security worries, we need to investigate all those whom are coming up to our ships, this can be conducted by a group of eight marines or so, preferably on the ground." Adama said.

"_I'm sure that is more than doable. In fact, I think the Department of Defense has a list of reporters that have been cleared to be around secret operations."_

"In that case I will have the Admirals send a number of raptors down to Andrews Air Force Base, say tomorrow 10A.M. your time?" Lampkin suggested.

"_That would be perfect; I have my people prepare the people and materiel at Andrews by tomorrow morning."_

"Alright, thanks."

**March 13**

**Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, USA**

**9:58 AM**

The six raptors were on final approach. The entire area had been cleared and the capital beltway that ran close to the air base was also shut down. Nothing was left to chance. A CAP of eight F/A-18's patrolled the area while another squadron was on alert at Langley Air Force Base near Norfolk. Furthermore a battalion of marines patrolled the perimeter and were supported by several Apaches.

The raptors were guided down by landing officers whom used red and green sticks to place them on predetermined positions.

Once the raptors were down and the hatches opened an Air Force officer walked up to the debarking Colonials and greeted them.

"Welcome to Andrews Air Force Base. I am Lieutenant Colonel Gantry, pilot of Air Force One for President Bartlet."

"Nice to meet you. I am Major Kara Thrace, Galactica's CAG. I usually fly vipers but today I flew one of these 50 ton rust buckets."

"It's great to meet another pilot. We have set up an area for you to conduct your searches of the visitors."

"That's great, How many people have you selected?"

"About forty journalists and camera personnel, and there are about eight White House representatives."

"Okay, let's do them first." Thrace said as she followed Gantry to a nearby hanger bay, followed by nine marines and five pilots. The other six pilots remained with the raptors.

Once they reached the hanger Thrace was led to a group of people whom were seated at comfortable sofas. There also was another group; these were all watching her and the rest of the Colonials with interest and some even with fear.

"Major Thrace, May I introduce you to Admiral Percy Fitzwallace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he is the senior military advisor to President Bartlet. Deputy National Security Advisor, Commander Kate Harper. Deputy White House Chief of Staff Josh Lyman and his assistant Donatella Moss, they directly represent the President. Furthermore we have Ainslie Hayes, Associate White House counsel, she can deal with all the legal stuff that might come up. Will Bailey is the Deputy White House Communications Director, I think it's clear what he does. Mark Gottfried is the host of Capital Beat, a talk show; he will make a political documentary about the entire process. He also has his own camera operator. And last is Special Agent Mike Caspers, he is in charge of security for the White House personnel." Gantry introduced every person as Thrace shook their hands.

"I must insist on being armed, I hope it won't be too much of a problem." Caspers said.

"May I see your weapon please?" Thrace asked.

Caspers looked surprised but ultimately pulled out his weapon, disarmed it and handed it over to Thrace. She gave it one look, took a look at the bullets and concluded that they wouldn't be able to destroy a centurion.

Thrace took out her own sidearm and gave it to the special agent. "This is a standard Colonial Fleet service weapon. It fires regular 9 millimeter rounds and also has the possibility to launch a half inch explosive round. The explosive round is about the only thing that can take down a Centurion without an enormous waste of ammo." Thrace said as she showed the various options and possibilities. "Take it, if we're attacked by centurions you're gonna need it. Besides it is the ultimate deterrent against civvies."

"I can understand why Captain. Thank you."

"I'd like to introduce you all to the Pegasus Marines, also known as Razors. Unlike the regular marines they have brains. They'll be searching you for any items we might not want to get aboard the Galactica, where you'll be going." Thrace said. "From what I understand search protocols are about the same so if you would like to take a step forward, one at a time and assume the right position."

One by one the group was searched. Once they reached Josh he took a step forward and spread his arms he was searched by two marines. "Is this really necessary we work for the President of the United States, don't you think we have the highest security clearance known to man?"

"Josh, the Pentagon still searches me every time I want to access my own office; we're just as paranoid as they are when it comes to security." Fitzwallace said before anyone else could reply.

"Really? I only have to step through the metal detectors every morning and I'm in." Josh replied.

"That's because the moment you set a foot on the White House grounds two dozen Secret Service Agents are watching your every move. By the time you're near the West Wing you have already been cleared. Those metal detectors are just there to show people there is any security at all." Harper said.

"And who might you be again?" Josh snapped back.

"Oh, I'm Kate Harper, the new Deputy National Security Advisor. I was supposed to start in two weeks but Dr. Nancy McNally thought this might be a good start for me." She said.

"Oh. Really? Okay." Josh said.

"There all clear ma'am." The lead marine said.

"Okay. If you all follow me, I'll be flying you up to Galactica." Thrace said. The rest of the marines went on to search the reporters.

As they reached the raptor Thrace got up on the short wing and helped the others up. As she helped Mark Gottfried up he asked her if his camera man could film on the way up.

"Yeah, no problem, if you want I can make a small detour along the battlestars, to show them to you." Thrace offered.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble it would be great." Mark Gottfried replied.

"I'll see what I can do." Thrace said as she helped the last person up. Once she had made sure they were all seated and strapped in, she started the raptor and took off heading for the Galactica. As they reached orbit the cameraman went forwards towards the cockpit and filmed as they approached the fleet. As they got closer the others also stood up to see the fleet.

First they were intercepted and greeted by the CAP. Soon thereafter they reached the perimeter of the fleet and passed one of the support stars, impressing the delegation. Beyond that they encountered the civilian ships; they passed a tylium refinery, a passenger liner and several cargo vessels. Eventually they reached Galactica. The delegation was impressed to say the least. The weapons were easily distinguishable and the scars the battlestar had to show for all the battles it had been in.

"That is impressive." Donna said.

"Yes it is." Fitzwallace said.

"Galactica's over 50 years old. She's been through two major wars and dozens of smaller conflicts with pirates. During the genocide of the colonies she took a nuke to the side with only moderate damage. She's the oldest of the fleet to still survive. She was supposed to become a museum the day the Cylons returned."

"A nuke?" Josh said in disbelieve. "How are you able to withstand such forces?"

"It's the way the armor is built; it's too complicated to go in detail now." Thrace said.

They had now passed Galactica and neared the Pegasus.

"Pegasus actually took four nukes when the Scorpia shipyards were destroyed. She survived, although with 25 percent casualties and jumped out making it only one of two battlestars to be able to leave the colonies, the other being Galactica. Later Pegasus again took three nukes from close range while investigating the disappearance of two raptors."

"Only two survived? I thought there were seven battlestars." Donna said.

"The other five are part of Battlestar group 2; they were on a secret mission outside the colonies when the attacks happened." Thrace enlightened them. "If you look at your two o'clock you can vaguely see the Zeus, the largest and most powerful Atlantia class battlestar in the entire colonial fleet."

"You truly have some beautiful warships if I may say so." Fitzwallace said.

"Thank you Admiral. Let's head back towards the Galactica, perhaps I can take you guys out for another ride later." Thrace said.

As the raptor approached the Galactica they all looked in awe as they neared 'The Bucket'.

The Raptor was brought into the hangar deck. There was no welcome detail waiting for them, just four marines to escort them to one of the squadron briefing rooms where they would be instructed about life on a battlestar and what to do if the ship was attacked and the security detail was disabled. This also included a tour of the battlestar to get known with the ship and to show the shelter areas. Such shelter areas are extremely well protected and would be able to survive even if the rest of the ship is destroyed. These areas include the sickbay, main crew quarters, pilot crew quarters, aft damage control and the CIC.

As the group reached the CIC they all looked in wonder at the rows of specialists working to make the Admiral's orders become reality. They could see the advanced technology such as the DRADIS console, but also the antiquated computer terminals that were still used, not even mentioning the telephones with wires.

Thrace, who was with the group led them to the tactical station where Admiral Adama and Colonel Tigh were going over some Intel.

"Admiral Adama, Colonel Tigh, these are the delegates President Bartlet sent up." Thrace said. They all introduced themselves and most gave their sympathy with the loss of the president.

"Welcome aboard Galactica, I hope Major Thrace has given you a tour of the ship. She's my best pilot and a great tactician."

"Major Thrace has been most hospitable." Josh said. "President Bartlet has asked me to ask you if he or someone from the delegation could attend the funeral."

"Our funerals are usually open to everyone who wants to visit. That being said, your president being there might pose a threat to on board security. There are some people who blame you for the president's death and might act out on their feelings." Adama said.

"I understand and the president would not want to impose a security threat to your ship, but if it is humanly possible he would like to attend." Will Bailey said.

"We will do our best. Security is going to be high anyways. The entire Quorum and nearly every battlestar commander will be there. I doubt it'll matter if one more dignitary will be there or not." Tigh said.

"Now that you have volunteered Colonel, you're in charge of security for the funeral as well as the protection of President Bartlet when he visits Galactica." Adama said. "If there is any credible risk to President Bartlet or those from Earth I want you to abort the visit. Perhaps Special Agent Caspers could help you with that."

"Well sir, I'm assigned to protect the delegation. I'd be more than happy to get you in contact with someone from the Secret Service; they handle the president's security."

"I'll take that." Tigh said.

The DRADIS console beeped twice, drawing the attention from everyone.

"Long range DRADIS contact, at least four contacts in close formation." Gaeta reported.

"Where is Admiral Peterson?" Adama asked. Though he asked he already knew.

"He's off duty, we're top." Tigh said. It meant that Adama had full command over the entire fleet. Usually Peterson and Adama switched command every few days.

"Redirect the CAP. Which battlestar is closest?"

"The Hephaestus of Commander Marks, sir." Gaeta said.

"Tell her to launch an additional squadron of Vipers and a couple of blackbirds and raptors. Set condition two throughout the fleet." Adama ordered.

"Admiral Adama, what is going on?" Mark Gottfried asked before the rest could open their mouths. His camera man was already filming as much as possible.

"Our DRADIS system, which is like your radar, has detected four unidentified contacts at long range. The Hephaestus will launch vipers to intercept and if necessary destroy the contacts." Adama said.

"Are they Cylons?" Fitzwallace asked.

"We don't know. But it's most likely. A while back we shot down a Cylon heavy raider. They may just be investigating its disappearance." Thrace said.

"And what if they find the fleet or Earth for that matter?" Fitzwallace asked.

"Right now the Cylons do not have enough firepower to take down the fleet. Nor do we have enough power to take on the Cylons. We're in a deadlock. If the Cylons attack us we'll destroy their fleet, if we'll attack them they have the chance to destroy us if they combine enough ships." Tigh said.

"The problem now, is that they might find out about Earth. And the Cylons will do anything to prevent you from helping us, including nuking the planet into oblivion." Adama said.

"What will you do if they are I fact Cylons?" Harper asked.

"In that case those four ships are probably raiders; they have FTL capabilities but usually stay close to their baseship. We'll deploy raptors to search nearby systems for a lead on the whereabouts of those ships. If possible we'll attack them and destroy their resurrection ship, effectively killing them." Adama explained.

"Admiral, the Hephaestus is sending some real time gun footage of the CAP." Gaeta said.

"Put it up on the DRADIS console." Tigh said.

They all looked up towards the DRADIS console which hung over the plot table. It showed gun cam of the wingman of the lead fighter. They neared the four hostiles which soon took the distinctive shape of Cylon raiders. Once the two formations got in range of each other they sprayed each other with bullets. The Viper pilots were distinctly better trained than the Cylon organic fighters. Two raiders blew up instantly, shredded by bullets. The vipers suffered no losses. The four vipers quickly split up in two groups and started chasing the two remaining raiders. Within thirty seconds after the first engagement all four raiders were destroyed and no viper was harmed.

"_Hephaestus actual, this is CAP lead, targets destroyed recommend you send clean up detail."_

"_CAP lead, this is Hephaestus actual, copy all, clean up detail en-route. Request you remain on station until security arrives."_

"_Copy, CAP lead out."_

"Admiral, Admiral Peterson is on the line for you sir." An ensign reported.

"I'll take him here." Adama said as he picked up a nearby wired phone. "Admiral Peterson, Galactica actual here."

"_Bill, Mark here. What do you want to do about this?_"

"The usual, send out raptors to scout the nearby sectors for the resurrection ship and baseships. Once we find them we attack them."

"_I agree. You mind if I take that search on me. It'll probably be my ships to engage them anyways."_

"Done, make it quick though, they'll send in a couple of baseships once they have downloaded the raiders and know about who attacked them." Adama said.

"_Raptor pilots are being briefed right now and will launch in about ten minutes. We'll have the first results by the end of the hour."_ Peterson said.

"Good, the funeral will be in two days, let's hope we'll have until then." Adama said.

**Two days later**

**Hanger bay**

The first of three raptors were rolled in the hanger bay. An honorary marine guard stood ready to receive the guests. As the hatch opened the order to stand at attention was given.

"President of the United States of America arriving." Adama said. President Bartlet was helped down the raptor by someone and was immediately flanked by two secret service agents disguised as US marines.

"Admiral Adama I presume." Bartlet said after he received a salute from Adama.

"I must apologize for the absence of President Lampkin and Admiral Peterson; they are going over an attack plan against the Cylon force we detected this morning. You are invited to join the last pre-mission meeting once the funeral is over."

"Really, I'd like that." Bartlet said. "Where are my people I had expected them to be here."

"Fitz, excuse me Admiral Fitzwallace is with Admiral Peterson, the show host is up on the catwalk filming your entrance. The rest I don't know myself though my tactical officer should know where they are."

"Fitzwallace already has you calling him Fitz? He is fast."

"Yes sir."

"Could you walk me through the protocol for the funeral? I was hoping I could hold a small speech." Bartlet said.

"Everyone is free to say something about the deceased or hold a small motivational speech. But first the priest gives a ceremony, reads the sacred scrolls that kind of stuff. Then some people give their own speech and after that the floor is open for anyone who wants to say something though speeches are usually limited to about five minutes each. Once everyone is done and everything has been said the casket is moved into the launch tube and in this case shot towards the sun. Meanwhile a marine honor guard will fire a salute as well as the ship itself will fire a 21 gun salute."

"Is there any particular seating arrangement?" Bartlet asked.

"Partly, for the VIPs special seats are reserved, such as you the president, the quorum and senior military commanders as well as your staff. You will be seated beside President Lampkin. The rest can stand behind the military guard and on the catwalk."

"Thank you, How long until the funeral starts?"

"It'll start in about fifteen minutes." Adama said.

"Is it far?"

"The funeral is held at the port side hanger bay, about four hundred meters away from the starboard side hanger bay where you landed. We'll be there in a few minutes, we just got to get up some stairs move a bit back, then two stairs down again and we'll be there." Adama said.

"I know that the aircraft carriers the US navy has have those strange corridors because of limited space, but do your ships have the same reasons for making the corridors less symmetric?"

"Partly, yes. But it was also done to prevent a breach in one side of the ship to affect the rest of the ship. It also makes it difficult for unauthorized personnel to get around quickly. I routinely get deckhands asking me where they can find a certain destination. The ship is so big that in the years since we left the colonies they still haven't been around it completely." Adama said. They reached a closed hatch. Adama turned the old lock and opened the blast proof door. "During my first year aboard the Valkyrie as CO I made a daily tour, visiting another section every day. It took me the better part of the year to get to know the ship."

"I see. How long did it take you to get to know the Galactica?" Bartlet asked.

"I already knew her. She was the first battlestar I served on after I finished Viper school. When the admiralty gave me command of her it was like a retirement present. I would be allowed to be the last commander of her and retire the same day she did." Adama said. "That just never happened, the Cylons attacked."

"Sounds like the Cylons made one big mistake by not waiting a week or two."

"They sure did Mister President." They reached the last hatch. "We're there sir. I'll guide you to your seat. If President Lampkin isn't there already he will be soon, same for Admirals Peterson and Fitzwallace."

Adama opened the hatch and they were greeted by a marine gunnery sergeant. "Admiral Adama, President Bartlet." The Sergeant greeted.

The two of them as well as their escorts entered the hanger bay and made their way to the casket which was already there. More than a few heads turned to examine the stranger that was among them. The guards looked at everyone as if they were about to pull a gun and shoot President Bartlet.

Despite all that some looked at him with rage in their eyes blaming him for the death of Roslin. Nevertheless he made it to his seat safely. President Lampkin was already there and they exchanged some friendly words. Not much later the high priestess started the ceremony.

For over an hour rituals were executed to bless the deceased and ask for a good life in the afterlife. Prayers were made, blessings were given and peace was final for President Roslin.

When the priestess was finished the members of the quorum all made a speech, Lampkin as successor, Tory Foster as her Chief of staff, Admiral Peterson and of course Admiral Adama made a speech as well.

Finally it was Bartlet's turn to make a speech, he walked up to the stand.

"I only knew President Roslin for a day, so I'll keep it short. During that fateful day we had a chat, we discussed a lot of things foremost the future of her people. We pledged to do all we could to get our two peoples at the same wavelength, to help each other, to give you a home. Those people responsible for her death were unable to see past their fears, and they acted out against what they feared. I can only hope that this tragedy can bring our two civilizations together, to create a bond between the two of us that will hopefully last forever. The road ahead of us is long, and there are many obstacles. But I am certain that if we all work towards unification we will succeed and survive the scourge that is the Cylons and any other challenge life may throw at us. Thank you."

Bartlet went back to his seat. The rest of the people stayed quiet.

Suddenly Adama stood up and walked to the casket and put his hand on it. "So say we all." He said quietly while facing the head of the casket. He turned around and now with a normal tone of voice repeated it. "So say we all." A few repeated after him but it was barely noticeable. "So say we all." Adama said with a louder voice. Now nearly everyone said it, but it was still not to Adama's liking. "So say we all!" finally people understood and repeated him aloud. "SO SAY WE ALL!" Adama yelled. The rest followed and they repeated it three times after which six marines carried the casket into the launch tube, while seven marines fired three salutes. The colonial anthem was played as the doors closed and all military personnel saluted their president one last time.

When the doors were closed the hissing sound of air leaving the tube could be heard and the outer doors were opened. 21 FLAK cannons along the flight pod fired a shot is succession of each other as the casket left the tube on a heading for the sun. Four vipers made a flyby and the ceremony was over.

**Final pre-op meeting**

**Plot room**

In the pilot room Captain Thrace and Commander Woods were ready to present their plan. Perhaps the two best strategists had been put on the task by Admiral Peterson. This time the plan was pretty straightforward.

"Mister President's, Admirals and Commanders. Our plan is simple. This morning recon flights discovered eight Cylon baseships escorting one resurrection ship. We believe that those ships are preparing to attack Earth. The current time frame we are working on is an attack in forty minutes, the plan has already been approved by the admiralty. In ten minutes a raptor recon group will jump in beyond DRADIS range in order to keep an eye out for any changes. Five minutes before the planned departure they will jump back and report their findings to the fleet. This will be that last point at which the mission can be called off. Five minutes later Battlegroup 2 will jump in, engage the fleet, disable the FTL drives of the resurrection ship and subsequently destroy any and all Cylon units in the system." Woods said.

"The five battlestars will jump in guns blazing at the Cylon FTL drives. Destroying the FTL drives has a priority, if we can prevent them from jumping out we can buy ourselves time and decrease the ships we might face if the Cylons would attack Earth. Vipers will be launched against the launch bays on the baseships to destroy any raider that may attempt to jump out. Raptors will be equipped with anti ship missiles though their mission may be changed in anti fighter if the Cylons manage to launch enough raiders. Our five battlestars should be more than enough to handle the eight Cylon baseships so the support stars shall remain with the fleet." Thrace said. "Any questions?"

"How do you want to prevent the resurrection ship from jumping away the moment you jump in?" Bartlet asked. It surprised most people since nobody thought Bartlet knew anything about colonial technology or tactics.

"By hitting them fast. In particular a squadron of blackbirds. These ships are undetectable if they run on low power and use ECM equipment. In addition they can make their own FTL jumps. I will lead the squadron myself in a jump immediately after launch from the Battlestar Prometheus." Thrace said.

"Thank you captain." Bartlet said. "What kind of casualties do you expect?"

"We expect that about a hundred vipers and raptors will be shot down. Statistics for such an attack say that about ten percent of the pilots will be rescued without more than a minor injury. Another thirty percent will be rescued with major injuries, the rest will unfortunately die. On the battlestars themselves we expect around two to four hundred casualties." Woods said.

"It is difficult to ask you to risk so many lives for us, with nothing in return." Bartlet said.

"If we would not attack them now, they would come back later at a time we do not know. Losses would be much higher, not counting the casualties they might inflict on the planet itself. This is the most sensible thing to do." Adama said.

"Well I guess that in this case all I can do is wish you the best of luck and pray your casualty estimates are on the low side."Bartlet said.

"So do we sir." Woods said.

"Fitz, I assume you want to stay with the fleet and witness the attack?" Bartlet asked.

"Yes sir, if they'll allow me I would."

"You're more than welcome aboard my Flag bridge Fitz." Peterson said.

"Well then, Mister President, I assume you want to return to your capitol now?" Adama asked.

"Yes, once again the best of luck to you all." Bartlet said.

**35 minutes later**

**Flag bridge, Battlestar Zeus**

Two beeps alerted the DRADIS officer to the DRADIS screen.

"Sir, the raptors have returned. They report an all clear, eight baseships and one resurrection ship in the known formation."

"Alright, prepare for FTL jump. Load the attack squadrons into the tubes and load all guns and missile tubes. Set condition one."

A few minutes later condition one was set throughout the entire ship and the FTL drive was ready to go.

"Sir, we're ready."

"Very well. Count it down." Peterson said. "You ready for this Fitz?"

"I hope so. I've never experienced an FTL jump." Fitzwallace said.

"Well, you're about to find out."

"Jump in five… four… three… two… one… Jump."

Battlestar group 2 jumped as one.

**Cylon baseship group**

**Flag bridge, Zeus**

The five flashes announced the arrival of the Colonial ships immediately vipers and raptors were launched. The guns however did not fire.

"Sir… Either DRADIS is malfunctioning or the Cylons aren't here anymore."

"Our pilots confirm, the Cylons are gone sir."

If they aren't here, then where are they?..." Fitz asked.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: thanks to Rudy Pena and ****Just a crazy-man for the beta.**

**It's been a long while since the last update, I've been busy with the alliance wars and school and I've always said that RONC came second when it comes to story writing. But nevertheless, it's here so no more ramblings from me and enjoy the story!**

**A few minutes later**

**CIC, Galactica**

Adama and Tigh watched as the President Bartlet´s raptor was escorted down by a squadron of vipers and F/A 18´s.

The DRADIS console beeped twice. "We've got contacts sir."

"Now already? That's fast." Adam said. "Hail the Zeus."

"Sir, I'm not getting any Colonial IFF!"

A loud alarm started blaring through the CIC. "Radiological Alert! They're launching nukes!" a lieutenant yelled over all the noise and confusion. "Impact in twenty seconds."

"Set condition one. Have the civilian ships make a snapshot FTL jump." Adama ordered. A snapshot FTL jump meant a jump with cold drives. It was destructive if done too many times but it was the only way out, most civilian ships couldn't withstand a nuclear explosion. "Hold Launch of Vipers until after the nukes hit." Launching them now would only put them at risk. Within the launch tubes they were protected against the nuclear blasts.

The ship's guns did fire. Instead of creating the usual FLAK barrier they just fired in the path of the missiles heading for them. The civilian ships started to make their jumps to unknown destinations, another side effect of a cold jump, you couldn't predict where you'd end up, a blind jump.

Meanwhile the Cylon baseships launched their formidable raider complements and hordes of anti ship missiles. They all did this at a comfortable distance that was beyond the range of the Colonial cannons.

Galactica was hit by three nukes, Pegasus by six. The remaining ships were hit as well and although most were military grade, meaning they could withstand a nuke, some civilian liners remained. Needless to say they were doomed. Twelve out of 55 civilian ships were destroyed and four military grade ships were destroyed, nearly eighty percent of all food and medical supplies were irradiated beyond use.

Fortunately no missile targeted the planet.

The moment the last nuke hit the Galactica and Pegasus launched their full viper compliments, numbering nearly two hundred each. They were immediately attacked by Cylon raider formations which could advance without hinder from the FLAK barriers. Soon enough the FLAK guns were shooting again, this time they did establish a proper barrier. The vipers quickly cleared the Raiders that got caught inside the barrier and went on to clear the fleet and engage the Cylons in the no-mansland between the two forces.

Both battlestars were on fire. Dozens of hull breaches supplied the fires with oxygen and it took a while for Damage Control teams to seal them all up. The ships had sustained moderate to heavy damage. Several turrets were disabled so the return fire wasn't what it used to be.

"Change course to 090 relative; bring our main guns to bear on these bastards." Adama ordered.

"Connect me through to fire station Bravo." Tigh said.

The CIC was a chaos. The acting CAG was coordinating his Vipers and Raptors, the DC officer coordinated all repair operations. Adama was busy getting the ship in the best firing position. Tigh was trying to get the most from the still operational gun batteries.

Aboard the Pegasus things weren't that much different, the glass doors were in shatters and a fire raged in a far corner of the CIC. Several computers were off-line and a few others had exploded.

Miraculously the support stars hadn't been hit by the Cylon nukes. They too came about to face the attacking force head on. Unfortunately they did not have the formidable FLAK screen a Battlestar could produce and were quickly swarmed by Cylon heavy raiders. The Viper squadrons were too busy getting organized and the battlestars were too busy protecting whatever was left of the fleet in orbit. Until the other battlestars would return they were on their own, and in a bad spot.

"Cylon forces are entering orbit."

"Alert the Americans, they can alarm those who need to know." Adama said.

"Admiral, the Cylons are boarding the ship through auxiliary aft docking hatches, the Pegasus and several support stars are also being boarded." A Marine Lieutenant reported.

"Are the Americans secure?"

"Not all, one of them is stuck under fallen debris, we're attempting to free her now. We also were unable to locate several reporters. They may have been in the port side mess, it was hit hard, and we have massive casualties there." The Lieutenant reported.

"Spool up all marine fire teams, all personnel serving at critical positions are ordered to bear arms."

"Target Sierra four is breaking off; Vipers report massive damage to its number two and three arms. Do you want us to give chase?"

"Negative, it might be a trap."

"The cylons are concentrating on our sub light engines, we're down to forty percent thrust as it is and I don't know how long we'll hold out at this rate."

"Are the Viper reserves already launched?" Adama asked.

"They're being loaded in the tubes as we speak sir." The acting CAG said.

"Have a squadron dedicated to the sub light engines."

"Where the Frack are my attack raptors, I want them loaded up with tactical nukes yesterday!" Tigh yelled into a phone.

"Sir, an elevator collapsed, they've got to carry those nukes up four stairs one a time." The DC officer pitched in.

"Then get them working godsdamnit." Tigh yelled at him.

"Brace for impact!" the DRADIS officer yelled over all the noise.

Before anyone could say anything they were all thrown to the deck as a nuke made it through the FLAK barrier. At the upper level of the CIC a pipe blew spewing steam into the CIC and wounding several crewmembers horribly. The central DRADIS console fell down onto the plot table where a few seconds before Adama was situated before he was pulled down by Tigh.

"Damage report!" Adama ordered.

"We've lost over half our Flak batteries, the ship's in a very bad shape, I doubt we'll be able to survive another one." Tigh reported as he had a look at the DC station.

"Where the hell is Peterson." Adama asked. "Send a raptor or blackbird, or something with an FTL drive to tell him to get his ass down here straight away."

"Chief what do you say?" Tigh asked the chief who was on the other side of the line. "You've got enough pilots, but you can't get the Vipers out of storage?"

"Tigh, are those Vipers fueled and armed?" Adama asked.

"Yes sir. The problem is the elevators, only one is working. What are you thinking?"

"Get the pilots in the cockpits, start the birds and then blow the outer hatches to let them go out. Get everything that flies out there, everyone who has ever held a stick, I want them out there."

"Chief, you heard that?" Tigh waited a second for confirmation. "Then get it done."

"What's the status of our nuclear launch tubes?"

"The doors of numbers one through twelve are melted shut by that last nuke. The other four haven't been tested but we think they've been damaged as well." The Tactical officer reported.

"Jump status."

"We've lost the navigational computer; we can't even connect to the Jump drive." An ensign reported.

"Can we jump from Engineering?"

"Engineering lost air pressure. Nobody can access the computers there."

"New DRADIS contact. Capital ship, no IFF." The DRADIS officer reported. "It's gone again sir."

"Armed recon by Peterson?" Tigh asked.

"He better be." Adama replied.

The distinct sound of gunfire perforated the noise of the CIC.

"Lieutenant, what's that." Adama asked the marine lieutenant.

"Cylon centurions have broken through our mid ship defenses and are heading this way. We've got a blockade at the C deck hatch." The Lieutenant replied.

"Four new DRADIS contacts. Its Peterson sir."

"Which one is missing?" Adama asked.

"The Prometheus sir."

"Probably looking for the resurrection ship if they haven't already destroyed it." Tigh said.

"If they had the Cylons would have retreated already." Adama said. "Patch me through to the Zeus."

"Peterson, get these frackers of our backs, we're about done for here." Adama said.

"_On it Bill, we've got the Prometheus looking for the resurrection ship."_ Peterson replied.

"They're launching fighters."

"Sierra three, six, seven and eight are redeploying to face Peterson." The DRADIS officer reported.

"Concentrate fire on Sierra Two, copy to Pegasus." Adama ordered.

"The Centurions have almost reached aft damage control."

"Tell the marines there to blow it if the Cylons are about to break through." Adama ordered.

"Sierra Four has been destroyed. Peterson is kicking their asses sir."

"DRADIS contact. IFF reads as the Prometheus."

"_Admirals Adama and Peterson, we've destroyed the resurrection ship!" _Commander Woods reported.

"_Attention all Colonial units, Cylon resurrection capacity destroyed, target their FTL drives, don't let them escape."_

All ships intensified their fire and within minutes all baseships had lost their FTL drives and with the help of the newly arrived Vipers the Raiders were quickly taken care off. Now that the Raiders were taken care of the Vipers could concentrate on intercepting missiles. One of the design flaws of the Cylon baseship now came in handy. Its lack of kinetic weapons made sure nearly no ordnance got through the Viper screens as they picked off any missile launched long before they reached the battlestars.

Galactica and Pegasus as well as the support stars were too badly damaged to attack the Cylon baseships now. This now rested to the battlestars of Peterson. His group now closed in to make the kills.

"Sir, we're getting a system wide signal originating from one of the Cylon baseships."

"Put it on."

"_This is the Cylon force to all Colonial forces, we surrender, please spare our lives."_ The message repeated itself.

"Tell them President Adar sent out the same message when they attacked the Colonies. They'll get the same reply they gave him." Adama said. Everyone looked at him questioning what it was since nobody had ever heard about the Cylons giving a response to the call to surrender. "Destroy them. Eradicate them as the scourge they are."

Peterson didn't even take the time to listen to it and ordered his ships to continue the attack.

Minutes later another baseship blew up and some more minutes later the rest of the Cylon baseships were destroyed. That still left all the centurions on the battlestars and all the Cylon forces on Earth itself.

"Sir, the Asclepius is not responding to our hails, it seems they've lost power."

"That's the only hospital ship we have. We've got massive casualties, where do we send them now?" Tigh commented.

"Get me a call with President Bartlet, now." Adama said.

"On it sir." An ensign said.

A minute later the ensign was on the line with the White House chief of Staff.

"Mister McGarry, I'll get to the point straight away." Adama said.

"_Please do Admiral."_

"We have massive casualties and a lot of wounded. To make things worse our only hospital ship is not responding to our hails."

"_What do you want? We can send up some medics and doctors if you need them." _Leo McGarry said.

"What I need is for you, or the president to allow us to send down our overflow of wounded to your hospitals for treatment."

"_I'm pretty sure the president would authorize this for the Walter Reed medical center, Fort Detrick and Bethesda Naval Hospital. I'll have to talk to him about other hospitals and he also needs to authorize the use for these hospitals." _Leo said._ "You know what, you send those wounded down to the hospitals, I'll have my secretary send you their coordinates and I'll clear it with the President right away."_

"Thank you, and how are you guys doing down there?"

"_We've mobilized our national guard and are just now starting to effectively fight these… these, what do you call them? Centurions? Anyways, if you could lend some support it would be deeply appreciated."_

"I'll see if we have a squadron or two available. Thank you again." With that he put the phone down.

"Tigh, load all transportable wounded into medevac raptors and send them down to the hospitals of which you'll get the coordinates soon. Also see if we or Peterson has some vipers available to lend a hand for the troops down on the planet."

Tigh immediately got on the horn with the sickbay to give them the good news. As soon as that was done he called the CAG aboard the Zeus and asked him to send a couple of viper and raptor squadrons to aid the Americans and any other nation that was attacked.

**Twenty minutes later**

**March 15, 22:21 hours 2010**

**Walter Reed Army Medical Center**

The first of what was to be many raptors arrived at the parking lot of the ER. Immediately medical personnel rushed towards the raptor and its hatch opened. The four or five wounded were immediately placed on stretchers and carrier inside. Local police was already there to secure the area. As soon as the raptor was empty it took off to make place for the next.

A flight of four Vipers passed over the hospital on their way to a Cylon group four miles north that was proving difficult to destroy by the US forces.

Contact between the vipers and US ground forces were difficult, not to mention the different radio channels also the sign language was different. Though soon enough a squadron of F/A-18F Super hornet, the Red Rippers from the Enterprise arrived. Some of the American pilots joined up with the Colonial vipers and they used hand signals to communicate the easier terms such as: 'follow me', 'Attack my target', 'good job' and some others.

**North of Washington DC**

"_Overlord, this is panther two five we're stuck outside Integris medical center in Silver Spring, grid location: 38.992 by -77.037, we need air support, do you copy!"_

"_Copy panther two five, we have you on our scope and are redirecting fire support, call sign is 'Skates'."_

"Panther two five, this is Skates, I have your position and am inbound any moment, what do you need?"

"_We need very close air support, friendly's and civvies in close proximity, recommend you come in from the south for optimal effect. Targets are a group of Cylon centurions at the roundabout."_

"Copy that, we'll use 20 mike mike (20mm), and come in from the south." Skates responded. When not in the air Skates was better known as Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth 'Skates' Hawkes. She signaled to the Colonial viper pilot on her wing the 'Follow me', 'small Caliber' and 'attack my target' signals hoping the colonial would understand. For the last thirty minutes he did understand and hadn't left her wing for a moment and executed all actions perfectly. From what she could see her wingman was a young male with the call sign 'hotdog'. His fighter which she was told was a Viper mark seven showed quite some battle damage, there were even several holes in the short wings.

Less than a minute later she and Hotdog lined up alongside 16th street and started their attack run on the Cylon units. They both slowed down to give themselves more time to acquire targets and destroy them. As they approached the friendly units popped purple smoke to indicate their positions. Skates selected her 20mm cannon and lined it up with the targets she could vaguely distinguish in the distance. Once she was in range she let loose several bursts of cannon fire. On her wing Hotdog did the same and together they managed to at least damage all the centurions if not destroy them.

"_Skates, this is Panther two five, thanks for the help, we'll take it from here."_

"Copy that Panther two five, good luck. Skates out." She then contacted the AWACS airplane that was her controller. "Overlord, this is skates, I'm nearly bingo ammo and I only have ten minutes of fuel before I have to return to the 'Big E'."

"_Copy that Skates, we've got nothing for you, return to the Enterprise, the air force is finally getting up in the air in large enough numbers." _Overlord replied.

"Copy, changing frequencies to Enterprise Air traffic control."

Skates signaled Hotdog she was RTB and after a few tries he finally understood. They said their goodbyes and each went their separate ways.

Half an hour later Skates had put her plane down on the deck of the Enterprise without much trouble. When she climbed out of the cockpit the CAG approached her.

"Good job Skates, the CO wants to see you in his office pronto."

"Yes sir. Did we lose anyone sir?"

"A pair of Knight Hawks got downed by hostile ground fire." The Knight Hawks were one of the three F/A-18 Super hornet squadrons assigned to CVW 1 which was the current Enterprise air wing.

"Yes sir. I'll go see the Skipper now."

**Skipper's office**

"Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth Hawkes reporting as ordered sir." Skates said as she saluted the skipper.

"At ease Skates." The skipper waited a second and took the cigar stump out of his mouth before he continued. "Good flying up there."

"Thank you sir." Skates quickly said.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Sir, I know it's against regs…"

"Not that Skates. Apparently you made an impression on that Colonial pilot you had for a wingman."

"Hotdog sir."

"Really?" the skipper asked. Skates nodded. "Well, the president has authorized the immediate formation of a new branch under the command of Admiral Fitzwallace. This force will build our new fleet, a space fleet. We'll start with vipers from the colonials stationed aboard their battlestars. They will train our pilots and help us construct our own space ships. You have been selected to be part of the initial training group. You are to report to Andrew Air Force Base. All your orders are in here." The skipper handed her a brown envelope. "Skates, I wish you the best of luck and I hope you'll make an excellent viper pilot."

**Joint US/Colonial Admiralty meeting**

**March 28, 2010**

**0930 hours**

**Battlestar Galactica**

The two admirals of the colonial fleet, Adama and Peterson as well as Admiral Fitzwallace made up the joint Admiralty. Their job was to speed up the cooperation between the two forces. On an as needed basis consultants were brought in to give them detailed information. Also along for most of the time were two assistants to both presidents. Today, two others were present as well; Major Thrace, and a reactivated US Admiral, who had been voluntarily demoted for his new job; Commander of the Space Flight school. Major Thrace was the senior flight instructor. The US Admiral was Tom Boone, among others he was the CAG aboard the Seahawk.

"Commander Boone, what is the status of the flight school?" Fitzwallace asked.

"All required equipment has been installed in some of the vacant areas of the Galactica, including simulators. Tomorrow all the pilots will arrive. We've worked out an appropriate schedule taking into account that all of the pilots have experience in fighter combat. Basically all we need to do is make them familiar with space combat."

"Do you have a final number on the amount of trainees you'll have?" Peterson asked.

"We've selected about two hundred, of which ninety percent is from the US Navy. How much will succeed is unknown, but we're counting on a final group of about forty Viper Pilots and twelve raptor crews. That would make for two Viper squadrons and one Raptor squadron."

"Major, what does the training program look like?" Adama asked Thrace.

"The first three weeks we'll be training the rooks in simulators beside the numerous theory lessons they'll have. If by the end of those three weeks they're still in they'll undergo seven weeks of training in real vipers and raptors. After that they'll join the three first US space squadrons and join the Zeus' air wing." Thrace said.

"Galactica as well as the Pegasus will both be in the mobile fleet tenders for at least two more months, wont this interfere with the training?" Adama asked.

"No, the Starboard flight pod is currently not encased by the tender, the damage there was less. This will allow us to conduct training take offs and landings there." Starbuck said.

**Starboard hanger deck**

**The next day**

"Welcome, you've all been selected to be the first of hopefully many new viper and raptor pilots." Commander Boone said. He stood upon a dais overseeing the nearly two hundred new trainees. "Beside me you see Major Thrace of the Galactica air wing; she is the senior flight instructor and will be among those who will determine if you are good enough to become a viper or raptor pilot. I'll let her explain what the curriculum will be and I believe she has some general guidelines that are good to know when you live on a battlestar."

Boon stood down and Thrace stepped up on the dais. "Thank you Commander. Let me just start be saying that you all are nothing. Nothing whatsoever, you are all rooks, nuggets as I like to call you. Your life on an aircraft carrier might seem very impressive when you try to pick up a nice looking boy or girl at a bar but up here it means squat. Space combat is completely different to atmospheric combat. In order to fight in space you need skills, you can't train it, some of you will have it and some won't."

"The first three weeks up here you will have many theory classes and you will fly in simulators. By the end of those three weeks we will select those who we think have the chops to fly vipers and raptors and we will boot the rest. Then we will send you out there, for the next seven weeks you'll be flying either raptors or vipers. If by the end you're still alive and in the program you will be assigned to one of the new US squadrons."

"You will be divided into ten classes of twenty pilots each; each group will have an instructor. Bunking will be in the standard squadron bunk rooms; there will be no difference between male and females and you will fly, drink, sleep, puke, feel miserable and die together, so why divide you. We expect you to be professionals; sexually tinted comments are not tolerated and will get you kicked out of the nearest airlock. We don't take discrimination, be it based on race, sex or sexual preferences. All we care about is your skills. "

"Your instructors are among the best. They may be younger or lower in rank but nevertheless they have seen combat many times over the last few years. Trust them to know what's right. Learn from the mistakes others make because you won't live long enough to make them all yourself. Okay, that's about all. The groups are posted on the board so your first act should be checking into your bunks and meet your bunkmates and instructor." Thrace smiled and pulled out one of her cigars and bit the top off before putting it in her mouth and lighting it. The rest just stood there watching her and she quickly dismissed them.

As for all others Skates made her way over to the board. Once she finally made her way through all the other pilots she had a look on the lists. She quickly found her name under class 2 with an instructor called Lieutenant Brendan Costanza. She followed the rest of the pilots to the living areas that were set aside for them. They passed some interested crewmembers of Galactica and finally made it to the living quarters. She quickly found her bunk room and found that there already were a few. From the arm patches she saw that three were US but she also saw a Brit and an Israeli. She walked up to them and shook their hands while introducing herself.

"So who gets which bunk?" she asked.

"Just pick one that's empty." One of the pilots replied. So she ditched her baggage on the nearest empty bed. She took a look around the room to see what it was like. She was surprised as she saw a Colonial standing near the doorway, she had walked right beside him and hadn't noticed him standing there. He looked familiar but she didn't know from where, it was the first time she saw a Colonial up close. She walked up to him and shook his hand. "Lieutenant Commander Hawkes, call sign Skates."

"I know, I'm lieutenant Costanza, call sign Hotdog." Then it all dawned on her.

"We flew together, over DC, now I know why I thought I had met you before." Skates laughed.

"Guilty as charged." He replied. Two more pilots walked in the room and they both went to greet them.

The rest of the day was spent getting to know each other and take tours across the ship to get their references and of course they also went to see the ship's doctor for their check in.

**Day 1**

The group was settled in one of the squadron briefing rooms. In front of the room a number of boards displayed the Viper mk. 7.

"Welcome everyone." Hotdog started. "I think we all know each other already so introductions won't be necessary. Day one. We'll start with some stats on your new planes, the Viper MK 7 this afternoon we'll get down to the hanger bay to have a look at the real ones." Hotdog took the first board which showed the basic outlines of the Viper and started telling them all the details.

**Day 11**

The group, which had already lost 2, was standing around Hotdog as they prepared for their first ride in the simulators.

"Today will be your first time in one of our simulators. They are designed to be as real as possible. You'll feel G-forces; you'll feel the hit when you screw up your landing. We'll be doing several flights, starting with launches and landings and hopefully ending with a small combat scenario. Skates, you're squadron leader, Stingray, you're wing leader of Red wing and Meatball leads Gold wing." Hotdog said. "Let's get this going."

They all entered a simulator and strapped in, helped by crewmembers as if it were a real situation.

"_Alright, you're all strapped in and ready. Start with your start up procedure."_ Hotdog said. One by one they all reported they were done. _"Good job, within the three minutes standard. Alright, now you'll all get your launch information and the computer will handle your launch." _

Within a minute all 'ships' were launched and they had reported to their wing leader, who in turn reported the wing ready to the squadron leader and Hotdog.

"_Alright, now that we're all airborne, let's get to the marker I've set up. Stay in formation and increase speed to standard."_

Several minutes later they had all reached the marker. _"Okay, now I'll put you in single mode and you can follow the next series of markers, which will guide you into a landing slide. Follow it and follow the instructions from ATC."_

The first landing went as expected for most, bumpy. Some even crashed their bird. One ruined its landing gear and 'dented' the deck, one even managed to fly himself into the battlestar 'exploding' on impact.

"_Alright, I'll set you guys up for a new landing; we'll keep practicing this until you can make five textbook landings that wouldn't be classified as a combat landing."_

At the ninth time the first pilot had five success landings in a row. Soon after that more pilots were successful. Within fifteen attempts they were all successful.

"_Alright, good job people. Much better then rooks who haven't landed on aircraft carriers before. Now, I'll give you basic maneuvers training and a little bit of combat training_ _as well. This is where crashes usually occur in real life."_

For the next two hours the group trained their skills and got to know each other in the cockpit. As predicted a lot of crashes occurred, one even leading to the elimination of the entire squadron when someone forgot to put on his safeties and accidentally pushed the wrong button, launching a missile into the Hitei Kan, a Tyllium refinery ship.

"_Alright, our time is almost up; we've got twenty minutes left. I'll give you a combat scenario, including the launch and a combat landing." _Hotdog said. He uploaded a scenario where a baseship ambushes the Galactica and they have to hold off the raiders.

During the exercise a couple of American reporters showed up, they asked him a few questions and filmed the simulation and the miserable results of the group. In the end most of them were wiped out and only one managed to make a combat landing ruining the viper, after which the Galactica was destroyed because it had taken too much damage.

"_Alright, that's it. Let's get out of the simulators."_ Hotdog said. He left the control room and waited at the simulators for the pilots to get out. _"Alright, I think that's all. You did a pretty good job, considering you were up against one of Galactica's own squadrons."_ He had arranged for a Colonial squadron to be the opponents of his trainees. _"In total you shot down four of the best pilots we have, but in the end you all died and the ship was destroyed. We'll be debriefing in half an hour, so hit the showers, you guys need one. Debriefing will be in briefing room one."_ Briefing room one was the room where their opponents usually resided. He had a surprise for them; they'd get their feedback from the pilots they had fought.

The camera crew and reporters followed him as he made his way to the briefing room. He catched up with the other colonial pilots as they to made their way over to the briefing room.

"Hey Hotdog, how're your rooks doing?" Kat asked him. Kat was one of the other pilots and joined the fleet at about the same time he did.

"They're doing great, if I remember correctly one even got the drop on you, I think the only thing that saved you was the safety switch."

"Yeah well, just luck I guess."

"Right..."

They both entered the briefing room and put their hand up against the picture that was up on the wall.

"Lieutenant, why exactly does everyone put his or her hand against that picture?" one of the reporters asked.

"The picture is called 'Lest we Forget'. It was made in the early hours of the Cylon attacks. It shows a Colonial soldier on his knees on the colony of Aerilon, possibly injured or just stunned as a city burns after the nuclear bombardment. Before every mission we touch it for good luck and remembrance, to give us determination to never again let such a thing happen." Hotdog explained.

"That's beautiful."

"It has kinda become a sign of the destruction and our resistance against the Cylons."

**Joint US/Colonial Admiralty meeting**

**April 20, 2010**

**0930 hours**

**Battlestar Galactica**

Beside the regular topics the admiralty had one important topic to discus; an expedition to the Colonies. Therefore Commander Harper and Commander Woods were present. Commander Harper was present because she had extensive knowledge of units that could be deployed in support of the expedition and to help Fitzwallace. And Commander Woods was present because her ship was most likely to go since it was a stealth ship so it was excellent for reconnaissance.

"Alright, what do we know?" Fitzwallace asked the two other admirals.

"We know from reconnaissance shortly after the attacks done by the Galactica, Pegasus and 2nd battle group that there are several nearly undamaged ships left. They were most likely taken out by a virus venting the atmosphere into space." Adama said.

"We also know about several fleet graveyards where older ships have been retired, with some work the ships there might be brought back to life. Assuming they're still there." Peterson said.

"What are we going to send?" Adama asked.

"We can't sent the entire second battle group." Fitzwallace said.

"The least we'll send is the Prometheus, her stealth abilities make her more than perfect for it." Adama said.

"But we'll also need another battlestar, one that'll keep the other ships safe and can carry enough crew to man any additions." Fitzwallace said.

"We'll need even more than that. We'll need a fleet tender, perhaps a second one as well. We'll also need at least one freighter for spare parts, a Tylium tanker and while we're there we might as well search the colonies for any survivors." Peterson said. "I might as well take the Zeus and Prometheus along with whatever else we need."

"Can we do that without compromising our defenses?" Fitzwallace asked.

"In a few weeks, when Pegasus and Galactica have been repaired we might be able to defend ourselves with what's left." Adama said.

"We shouldn't wait that long. Right now we know that the area is clear. The Cylons are most likely scattered and they might not know about Earth. If they don't they will not be as willing to send in more ships. And even if they do send more ships, their scouts are going to report that two battlestars are missing so they will think those battlestars are preparing for an ambush. If we continue jumping we can reach the colonies within a week. In that time we can prepare for what's to come. We can create a staging ground outside the colonies and from there we can investigate the colonies." Peterson said.

"We know from eyewitness accounts form Major Thrace and Captain Agathon that the Cylons have so called farms where they try to make Cylon babies and there are also survivors high up into the mountains."

"We'll take that into account when we'll search the planets." Peterson said. "Now, what do we need?"

"The Prometheus, the Zeus, one or two fleet tenders, a cargo ship with spare parts, among which several FTL drives. We also need a few transport ships for any refugees we might pick up, another ship with supplies and of course a tylium fuel tanker. We'll need additional crewmembers to man any ship we retrieve and want to take back to earth."

The meeting was cut short when the alarms started blaring. Condition two was set and all pilots were ordered to their ships to prepare for immediate launch. Adama walked up to the comm. unit at the wall and contacted the CIC with it and pushed it up on the speakers.

"_Admirals, we have detected numerous heat signatures from a nation called China, in turn our sensors also gave us radiation warnings, my guess, considering all that's been going on is that the nation China is launching ICBM's with a nuclear payload."_

"Launch all vipers and copy to all ships. Alert the Americans and have our vipers take those missiles down, we're not gonna let them annihilate themselves. We'll be on our way." Adama said after overcoming the shock.

They all ran the distance to the CIC in record time and arrived a bit out of breath.

"Admiral! I've got President Bartlet on the line; he wishes to speak with you urgently." A lieutenant said over all the commotion.

All three admirals picked up one of the wired phones and listened to it. Commanders Harper and Woods did the same. "Go ahead Mister President."

"_Admiral, I cannot stress enough how important it is that those missiles are taken down. Not just for the lives of my own citizens, but also for the citizens of China. For the moment one Chinese missile hits its target, I will be forced to retaliate with the full force of the United States' nuclear armament, and we both know who will be hit hardest by this."_

"I understand Mister President, our Vipers are already underway to intercept the missiles. So far we've detected about a hundred and eighty missiles and we've got vipers heading for every missile."

"Mister President, Admiral, the NSA and CIA have always agreed that China has approximately 240 nuclear warheads of which 180 are ready for use." Commander Harper said.

"_Do you also know where those sixty that do not seem to be launched are located?" _Bartlet asked.

"No sir, not that I know off. The Chinese are paranoid when it comes to storing their nuclear warheads. It is likely that they are stored, ready for deployment against an invasion." Harper said.

"Excuse me for one moment Mister President." Adama said. He had gotten a cue from a lieutenant and picked up another phone. "This is Galactica Actual to all vipers; Weapons free engage and destroy all missiles." Adama said. He put that phone down again and picked up the other. "Sorry Mister President, the Vipers will now be engaging the missiles."

"_Thank you Admiral. Could you give me an estimate on the affectivity of your intercept mission?"_

"Considering the low number of missiles, the travel time of nearly fifteen minutes versus nearly three times the amount of vipers, superior speed and starting point as well as knowing the destinations, it is very well possible that we'll get 95 to 100 percent."

"_So there is a chance a missile gets through?"_

"There always is sir, we will do our damned best to take them all down but we can't promise anything."

"Sir, we've got an early count on the missiles." Private Jeffrey said as he got a clipboard from someone.

"Tell me private."

"Of the 180 launched, six have failed to exit atmosphere and the rest are now all underway to the US. Our vipers are engaging and have taken down about five percent."

"Thank you private." He saw that Commander Harper was speaking with the President through the phone and he assumed she relayed the information.

As time passed more and more missiles disappeared and eventually only about two dozen were left. The problem however was that a viper could not engage something like a missile while entering the atmosphere. One viper had already been lost while trying to shoot a missile down, he leveled off to late and was unsuccessful in intercepting the missile.

Already from the moment the first launch was confirmed nationwide emergency broadcasts called the civilians and military to enact cold war protocols for an attack with nuclear weapons.

All across the globe, nuclear missiles were readied, be it sea based or land based. B2 and B52 bombers lifted off from their airports without nuclear ordnance, it was better to have them in the air and then land somewhere after the bombs fall then to let them be destroyed on the ground.

US forces raised their threat condition to DEFCON 1 and NATO allies soon followed.

In Washington DC prominent government officials went into hiding in underground bunkers, hoping they would protect them. There wasn't enough time for the president to get to Air Force One so he remained in the White House bunker. From there he prepared, but not launched a retaliatory strike. What was clear was that the US was at war with China and that they would retaliate. The targets however were not clear.

"Sir! Some are getting through." A lieutenant said.

"How much and where?" Adama demanded.

"Four broke through, one is heading for Denver, another for Atlanta and the last two are both heading for Washington DC."

"How long?" Fitzwallace asked.

"Denver any second and Atlanta and DC in about a minute."

"Someone get a hold on the resources management office and see what kind of anti radiation meds we have and how much we can spare." Peterson said.

"Commander Harper, Is your chain of command capable of handling this?"

"Yes sir. The president is secure in his bunker."

"But can he lead a country from in there after two nukes have detonated above?"

"It has never been tested if that's what you're asking. But the Vice President is in the Atlantic fleet war room in Norfolk, it's supposed to be able to withstand a nuclear attack. Most others in the line of succession are also safe, it will be unavoidable that some won't be safe but we'll have most secured in bunkers throughout the nation." Harper said.

"Sir, the RMO says we can spare about 400.000 pieces of anti radiation meds." A lieutenant reported in.

"That's never going to be enough; there must be millions of people living in those areas." Fitzwallace commented.

"Well, it seems that your pharmaceutical branch is going to be busy enough the coming time."

"Detonation of the Atlanta and DC missiles in five…four…three…two…one…detonation."

"We lost communications with the White House." Someone over at the communications terminal reported.

"A nuke will do that, try to raise Norfolk Naval station, the Vice President should be there." Peterson said.

"Is there a plan in place to retrieve the president?" Adama asked.

"Yeah, but depending on the yield and amount of radiation it might take a while before this is possible." Harper said.

"You mind if we give it a try? We've got protective clothing that's most likely better suited to withstand radiation than what you guys have." Adama asked.

"I guess so, you mind if I come along?" Harper said.

"Sure thing, go get suited up. The NEST team will get you the proper equipment, they handle most things nuclear."

"How funny, so do we, the exact same name too."

"Makes you wonder if there isn't some unknown cosmic link between our two people." Adama said.

"Sir we picked up a call from the Vice President. It says that while the President is still alive he has instructed him to launch a limited retaliatory strike against strategic targets in the people's republic of China." A Comm. Specialist reported.

"They're launching nukes."

**Twenty minutes later**

**NEST Raptor 165**

The six raptors of the NEST team had started their entrance in the atmosphere at the equator and were now rapidly moving north towards the Capital.

"Commander, there are still a lot of aircraft here, can you give us a hand with them?" the pilot asked.

"Yes, can you broadcast a message on the emergency air traffic control frequency?"

She received a nod from the ECO _"This is raptor 165 currently somewhere near the South Carolina coast heading for DC, we need you to clear an approach for us, we'll descend into commercial air traffic altitude somewhere over northern Virginia, our callsign is FLYNET and are a priority one flight. How do you copy?"_

"_Raptor 165, I read your FLYNET and Air traffic is being redirected, we'll have the way clear by the time you pass through, god speed."_ The ATC replied almost immediately.

"What's a FLYNET?"

"It's the callsign given to US NEST flights; it gives them one of the highest priorities in aviation. Only the military and Air Force One are higher."

"I see, what was the yield of this nuke?"

"Approximately one Megaton but there were two in close succession." Harper replied.

"That won't really matter for us right now. You said there was an auxiliary access to the bunker?"

"Yes, it's located about fifty meters to the north of the bunker."

"Are there any obstacles?"

"A bunch of trees, well, before the detonation anyways."

"They should be gone, not much will survive a detonation at such a close range." The pilot said.

"Commander." A technician called for her attention. "Once we've landed we will start to create a secure walkway towards where that entrance is, but I need you to stay behind us and follow our directions. These suits can handle a huge lot; our pilots were them all the time but this close to the impact there is bound to be a lot of heat and radiation left, especially just thirty minutes after detonation. We can take about six people per raptor and more are following but this might take a while. Do you have a count on the amount of people down there?"

"At least fifty, but depending on if they managed to get the entire staff down there, there might be over three hundred people down there."

"Okay, where do you want us to take the president once he's out of there?"

"Air Force One I guess, it's at Andrews, about 20 kilometers South-East of the Capital."

"Will it still be there?"

"It's a hardened military base, it should still be there."

"Okay we're approaching the hot zone here, Commander I need you upfront to guide me in."

As Harper took the co-pilot's seat she gasped at what she saw. They were just passing the capital beltway near Alexandria, or what used to be the capital beltway, and the sight was one of pure destruction. Cars, houses, flats and even aircraft from Reagan international were thrown around as if it was a giant's playroom. Only a few vehicles, mostly military, were moving and only a few civilians were walking around, not knowing that their lives were most likely going to be very short. The double cloud that would later characterize the two nuclear explosions was located somewhere near the Jefferson Memorial, having struck somewhere between the three most prominent targets in DC, the White House, the Pentagon and the Capitol.

The Pentagon was partially intact though it didn't look like anything someone wanted to live in. Reagan was flattened as were most other buildings. Once they came north of the Potomac they found that the White House hadn't survived the explosion, only a few pieces were left standing. To its sides the Department of Treasury and the executive office building were also gone. As expected the threes behind the white house were also gone. A lone pole stuck up out of the ground, it looked like a periscope and had an assortment of antennas on top.

"You see that pole, the bunker entrance is located about fifteen meters due east of it."

"Copy that, marking it now." The coordinates were stored and transmitted to the other raptors and a plan was formed to quickly set up the protective walkways. Raptor 165 was the first to land and start construction on the walkway. The others landed near them and each of them had additional materials to complete the walkways.

Eventually, after nearly forty minutes of hard work the first part of the walkway was completed. Other NEST units would continue to extend the system to allow for more raptors to dock with it and increase the amount of people they can evacuate.

All the while the periscope kept an eye on the colonials while they were busy. Commander Harper as well as a few NEST techs dragged a dozen or so suits to the entrance to the bunker. The periscope turned towards them and Harper gave them the thumbs up and a 'one' hoping they would understand to open only one level to allow them in, then close it, and decontaminate the area before opening the second level.

Fortunately they understood and did as asked. Within a couple of minutes Harper stood in front of her Commander in Chief with her helmet beside her.

"Sir."

"Commander, what's the damage?"

"Put this on and have a look see." She said as she offered him one of the suits she and the techs had taken with them.

The president went to work on putting on the suit being helped by Harper. The techs helped other prominent people in their suits.

"Where are you going to bring me? Bartlet asked.

"Air Force One, if it is still there."

"How large were those bombs?"

"One Megaton each."

"Has the Vice President launched the missiles I ordered launched?"

"Yes sir, a limited strategic strike against China. We saw 'em fly on the way in, they should have hit by now."

"Good." Bartlet said.

"Okay I need the attention of the first group." the lead tech said. "We are going to split this group in two, six per raptor. The first group will follow Sergeant Matthers to raptor two while the other group will follow me and Commander Harper to Raptor one. The most vital part is that you keep this suit on. I'm not joking about it. There is still a lot of heat out there as well as radiation. Keep your hands off the fabric that covers the walkways, when you reach the raptor there will be someone to help you get in. under no circumstance are you allowed to detach your helmet or any other part of your suit before we expressly say so. Try to keep any staring to a minimum and don't cause any holdup, it will seriously frak you and the rest up. Have I made myself clear?"

A number of yeses followed. "Okay, let's go."

The group made it out of the bunker and through the walkways without any incident and reached their raptors quickly. Raptor one carried the president and his family as well as Leo McGarry while the other raptor carried several senior staff members.

The two raptors took off while another group of raptors and tech went on to evacuate the rest of the people in the bunker. They made their way over to Andrew and were able to get on board before any of the radiation hit the plane. They took off while the rest of the staff would join them later on, for now the president was safe and that was all that counted.

**I hope you enjoyed it, so if you did, leave a review**


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